


By Their Side (Season Two)

by NotYoshihide



Series: By Our Side [2]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Angst and Romance, Bad Parent Gothel (Disney), Belligerent Sexual Tension, Between Episodes, Bi-Curiosity, Canon Compliant, Cassgene bicker even more flirtatiously, Cassunzel struggle even more with their feelings, Episodic Chapters, Eugene accepts he has a 'thing' for hair, F/F, F/M, Feelings Realization, Foreshadowing, Friends to Lovers, More tags later, Multi, New Dream is still true love, OT3, Romance, Season/Series 02, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27290368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotYoshihide/pseuds/NotYoshihide
Summary: A series of canon compliant one or two shots that takes place between episodes of season two. We're diving into the continued romantic developments of our favorite One True Trio as the season takes them on a rollercoaster of comfort, love, annoyance, and hate.What kind of love develops when a Lady-in-Waiting slowly loses trust in her Lady, a Rogue slowly realizes his responsibilities, and a Princess slowly discovers her destiny? Here are those stories of their romance that didn't make it on screen.UPDATE: Chapter 7 has been unleashed! Is this a return to form for the struggling writer? Has his foray into writing Persona fanfiction helped his craft? Find out! By… well, by reading the newest chapter. Yeah.
Relationships: Cassandra/Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider (Disney), Cassandra/Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled), Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Series: By Our Side [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870165
Comments: 94
Kudos: 74





	1. Discussing Stallions on a Caravan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Small Box Filled With Big Changes. Dumb and Perceptive Partners. Can Anyone Hear You From Inside? Women With Big Servings of Roast Beef and Wild Stallions. Boys, and the Disgusting Conversations They Have. Insults Too Easy to Be of Any Fun. Annoying Rhetoric. Fond Feelings of the Past, the Present, and the Hungry. Following Gold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moments before "Beyond the Corona Walls Part I"

Eugene was excited for this big change.

So much of his life was no longer the same from even just a year ago. He had teamed with two of the most notorious low-life thugs to steal one of the most priceless items in the world, later betrayed those low-life thugs, hid from a very persistent horse in a tower, been knocked unconscious by a frying pan wielded by the most amazing girl in the world, destroyed a dam, had a romantic evening on a lake, almost got executed, and then got murdered instead.

All that within the span of three days! There was more to it, of course. Long lost princess, magic hair, new life in the castle, yada yada yada. But his life had gone from the exciting, devil-may-care, survive-each-day-by-the-seat-of-his-pants adventures of Flynn Rider to… actually that part was mostly the same except he was now going by Eugene Fitzherbert. And he no longer had to worry about finding food and shelter every other night. _And_ the aforementioned most amazing girl in the world from before was now the love of his life. _And loved him back_!

Now life was changing from that once again. Off on another epic adventure, but this time not because he was running from something, or chasing something, or being forced to at pain of death. No, this time he was going on an adventure because he _wanted_ to. It was an adventure at the side of the most amazing girl in the world. Also, with a few other people, but the important part was the most amazing girl in the world.

Eugene’s mind was engrossed in the most amazing girl in the world because he hoped to make the most beautiful girl in the world even happier by proposing.

Eugene was lounging on the roof of a caravan, an interesting combination of two carriages locked together, creating two ‘rooms’ and surprisingly stable mobility. He was holding a tiny box in his hand, opening and closing it idly. Nestled inside was a ring he’d been carrying on him on and off for the past year: an engagement ring.

He’d been holding off on using it, the most amazing girl in the world from before having made him promise to be patient with her. He promised he’d ask her to marry him only when she was ready and because he loved and respected her, he agreed. But he wasn’t someone known for his patience. Or his ability to keep promises for that matter.

It was excruciating waiting like this. Maybe if he set up a plan? Some sort of big event? They were going to Varadero next, the ‘City of Fun and Games’ after all. Maybe if he made the right romantic moment--.

“What’s up partner?” A hatch next to him burst open, startling Eugene and causing him to almost drop the small box. He fumbled a half dozen attempts to catch it before finally snatching it out of the air, leaning over the side of the carriage and almost falling himself. Thankfully, he had been caught by the big, burly hand of his ex-partner in crimes, Lance Strongbow.

“Good googly eyed gophers, did you have to sneak up on me like that?!” Eugene tucked the box into his inner vest pocket and straightened up in his seat.

“I’m pretty sure being sneaky is what we’re known for,” Lance responded, hauling Eugene back up and onto the caravan roof. Lance let the hatch shut behind him and sat on it to laze with Eugene. “So, like I said, what’ya up to out here?”

Eugene shrugged, deciding to fall back onto old habits: lie. “Eh, just gettin’ some fresh air, stretch my legs, you know. Nothing special.”

“Oh? So, you’re telling me that the engagement ring you’re hiding in your pocket there is ‘nothing special’ then?” Lance pointed at Eugene’s vest where the box was neatly tucked away. He had that annoying smirk on his face Eugene hated. Hated not because of its annoying-smirkness, mind you, but because Lance insisted he had come up with it on his own when Eugene was certain he had come up with it first.

“Shh! Will you keep it down?” Eugene smacked the back of his partner’s oh-so bald head, who only snickered rather than get defensive.

“Oh, relax, buddy! No one can hear us talking up here unless we yell. Here, watch this.” Lance cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify a shout and leaned over the carriage. “Hookfoot Smells!”

From inside the carriage a grating voice shouted out. “Come say that to my face!” Lance just laughed.

“Oh, I’ll come down there and tear that metal safety hazard right off your leg.” This time Lance spoke in his normal tone of voice, the one he had used to discuss the engagement ring.

There was no response for a few seconds. Then there was a shout back. “Got nothing to say to that, huh? Yeah, that’s what I _thought_!” It seemed you couldn’t be heard having a regular conversation on top of the caravan from inside.

“Fine, fine. But still, ixnay on the eddingway ingway.” Lance just stared at him, his head tilted, and eyes scrunched in confusion. Eugene ran his hand over his face and sighed. “Pig Latin? Don’t talk about,” Eugene lowered the volume of his voice, “wedding ring?” Lance just stared at him. “I told you that you gotta expand your vocabulary, amico mio,” Eugene said in his regular volume.

“Oh, see, I know that one was Italian,” Lance said proudly.

“Uhuh, anyways. This… _thing_ isn’t ‘nothing’, it’s just not a thing to talk about.” Eugene returned to his lounged position, looking up at the clouds and occasional tree branches as they rode by.

“Uh huh, and that’s why you’re fiddling with it up here? Not gonna talk about it, not gonna _use_ it?” Lance joined his partner in lounging and cloud slash branch gazing.

“I can’t, Lance. I promised I wouldn’t.” Eugene waved his hand in the air dismissively. “I’m just getting impatient, ya’know?”

“Nope, not really,” Lance answered honestly. “The longest relationship I had was that waitress down in Zuhlberg, what was her name, Sadie or something? Tall woman, with great big--”

“Servings of roast beef, I remember.” That was no euphemism. Lance thought primarily with his stomach, a mentality that had earned him a job as a cook back home in Corona. Admittedly, it was as a cook at the Ugly Duckling, so the standards were as high as doorstep, but he made pretty good food.

“Mhmm… I’ll never forget Sally. Too bad we had to leave town after we botched that diamond heist. Dumb thing was just _too big_. We shoulda gone with Stalyan’s plan to rob the Sultan of Pencosta’s jewels but _noo_ , you had to say it was one of the worst ideas she’d ever had.” Lance sighed, smacking his lips. “Hey, if we pass through Zuhlberg again, you think Sarah will still remember me?”

“I’m pretty sure the whole town still remembers us, buddy. Besides, Stalyan actually made me pull off the Pencosta job a little later anyways.” Eugene ignored his friend’s claim to remember someone and immediately change their name. It happened often.

“Ooh, you sly dog. See, now _she_ was a wild stallion. See what I did there?” Lance waggled his eyebrows as if he had made the wittiest of puns. “Now you and Stalyan, that was a good couple. Almost as good as me and Sasha.”

Stalyan, right. The daughter of The Baron, one of the most powerful crime lords in the land. When the two rogues had been working for The Baron, Eugene had gotten acquainted with The Baron’s daughter. Then he had gotten _intimately_ acquainted with her. She was… quite the voracious woman. Also, vicious, vivacious, and plenty of other sinister words that start with a V. Venomous, that’s a good one.

Lance elbowed Eugene in the ribs playfully. “Oh, yeah, hey! You two were supposed to tie the knot. How’d you ask her to get hitched then?”

“I didn’t.” Eugene brushed his friend’s elbow away. “She did. Well, she didn’t really _propose_ per se. She just kinda said ‘Rider, I like you. I think I’ll keep you. We’re getting married’ and that was that. It all happened pretty fast.” Eugene imitated the viperous woman’s voice as he said that, an imitation he had perfected while mocking Cassandra over the past year.

Cassandra, the handmaiden, bodyguard, and best friend of that most amazing girl in the world. Now _that_ was a V-worded woman if Eugene had ever known one. And he had known many: case and point Stalyan.

Eugene shivered as he compared his ex-fiancé and the handmaiden to his hopefully-future-fiancé. Both were headstrong, confident women. Both can command the attention of any room they were in if they wanted to or blend into the furniture if they didn’t. Both know how to kill you a dozen different ways and look absolutely gorgeous doing it, and both were brunettes, his preferred hair color on a woman. Although Stalyan’s hair was more of a reddish brunette while Cassandra’s leaned more towards the blacker.

Were they so similar? The more Eugene thought of Stalyan the more his image of her seemed to warp into Cassandra. Even his attempts to come up with differences between the two only highlighted their similarities. Height, makeup, jewelry, posture, none of it changed the fact that if he described a sexy, clever, sharp-tongued, violently attractive and just plain violent woman with alluring hair, he could have meant either of the two.

It gave Eugene a lot to think about.

“Yell-ohh…? You still with me, buddy?” Lance was waving his hand in front of Eugene’s face and Eugene realized his partner had been talking on and on about their old thieving days, his opinions on marriage, and Samantha’s roast beef. That time he wasn’t sure if it was a euphemism.

“Hmm? Wha? My bad, Lance. I’m just… a bit confused right now.” Eugene sat up, the caravan rocking as the road got bumpier. “Huh, we’re slowing down. What’s that about?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Probably something to do with that.” Lance lazily pointed behind Eugene at an open field leading to a waterfall. Specifically, he pointed at the long, golden streak slowly running through said field _towards_ the waterfall.

“Ah.” Eugene ran his hand over his face again. “Right. I should look into that.”

“Yep, that’s all you. I’m gonna go back down and grab something to eat. Have you noticed we keep running low on food? Hookfoot says it isn’t him, but I’m not leaving him alone with the food stores for too long anymore.” Eugene watched his friend pop open the hatch and hop inside. Eugene held the hatch for a moment to hear their bickering.

“Oho, finally come to face me, huh?” That was Hookfoot’s voice. “You wanna say I’m smelly again, hmm?”

“Yuhuh, it’s probably ‘cause you keep eating all our cheeses! I know it’s been you sneaking off to the food trunk!” That was Lance.

“I _told’ya_ it ain’t me who’s--” Eugene closed the hatch. That was enough of that.

The rogue stood up on top of the caravan and walked to its front. With the practiced grace of a thief who routinely climbed large buildings, he leapt off, grabbed the lip of the ceiling with one hand, and swung his body onto the driver’s bench of the Caravan in one fluid motion. There, back straight, legs spread, hands on the reigns, sat Cassandra.

“Whoa, Cass. Hi. Uh, how long have you been there?” Eugene asked dumbly. Cassandra rewarded his dumb question with an appropriate look.

“The whole time? Who do you think was driving this caravan?” Eugene opened his mouth and held a finger up as though he had a witty retort to that question but closed his mouth and put his finger back down when he realized he did not.

“Could you hear me and Lance from up here?” Eugene asked hesitantly.

Cassandra shrugged. “Eh, fifty percent. Do men ever talk about things other than women with ‘big beef’ and hitching ‘wild stallions’? Don’t tell me what either of those disgusting things really mean.” Her voice was dismissive and her eyes rolling, a regular condition for her. At least she wasn’t trying to sound insulting as much anymore.

In the two weeks since they had left Corona the relationship between the boyfriend and the handmaiden had cooled somewhat. They still regularly argued, but Eugene rarely felt genuinely threatened by her anymore. Rarely didn’t mean ‘not ever’, of course. Her moods still sometimes did complete one-eighties on him: one moment she’d be smiling at him and laughing all friendly-like and then suddenly she’d be defensive and hostile like she just remembered she couldn’t stand being so close to him.

But she didn’t threaten his life as often anymore.

Which was nice.

“Actually, we were--” Eugene cut himself off. It sounded like Cassandra had only heard the innocuous parts of their conversation, and there was no reason for him to elaborate on the engagement ring stuff. “We were just talking about the good ol days. Boys’ll be boys, amirite?” He held his hands palm upwards by his face in an overdramatic shrug and made a goofy smile on his face to really sell it.

“Oh, yeah, the ‘good ol days’, huh? I’ll be sure to tell Rapunzel when she comes back that you were missing ‘big servings of roast beef’ and ‘hitching wild stallions’. I’m sure she’ll just _love_ to hear that!” Cassandra’s smile was less goofy and more mischievous. Eugene immediately saw Stalyan’s face giving him that exact, mischievous smile like a ghostly shadow next to Cassandra’s head.

“I, uh, no, no! That’s not what I meant. I mean good ol days for Lance, right? He’s the one who’s missing the rough and tumble brigand life, not me. I’m totally happy with my life now, no more Flynn Rider-ing around anymore. It’s only the good _new_ days with Rapunzel for good ol Eugene Fitzherbert!” OK, how did this conversation turn on him so badly? He was better than this, now he was babbling like a boyfriend who had no excuse, and Flynn Rider _always_ had an excuse.

Well, for starters, he wasn’t Flynn Rider anymore.

Thankfully, rather than push his moment of weakness, Cassandra laughed out loud instead. “Man, you’re being way too easy to mess with. It’s not even any fun if you’re just gonna roll over like that.” For someone who did _not_ find it any fun, Eugene couldn’t help but notice she was still laughing an awful lot. She finally stopped laughing at him and gave him that mischievous smile again.

“Don’t worry, I know in my heart that this is where you belong, _Flynn_.” Cassandra may have meant for that to be condescending, what with the whole ‘in my heart’ being so sarcastic and the emphasis on calling him ‘Flynn’, but the smile, the sarcasm, the emphasis, it brought back a flood of emotions for Eugene.

For a brief moment he wasn’t sitting next to Cassandra on a fancy caravan leisurely riding down a path. He was sitting next to Stalyan on a stolen carriage rushing desperately down a canyon.

Old romantic feelings die hard, it seems. What’s worse, those romantic feelings only got deeper when his vision cleared, and he registered that it _was_ Cassandra next to him giving him the smile, the sarcasm, and the emphasis that he loved in a woman.

Yeesh, what was _that_ about?

The shock was enough to reboot his brain. “Really, Cassandra?” He put the emphasis on the ‘and’ in her name like she hated. “And how often when you're thinking about me am I in your heart, hmm? Maybe _I_ ought to tell _Rapunzel_ about where exactly you feel I belong?” If you don’t have a defense, go on the offense. It was one of the basics of annoying rhetoric, and Eugene was a master of rhetoric. And annoying!

It looked like it worked, too. Cassandra’s eyes widened and her mouth hung agape for a moment. She snapped her attention back to the road. “Bozo,” she mumbled under her breath. “Go ahead and tell her that, then. But I don’t think you’ll be able to tell Raps anything if she jumps off a waterfall and we never see her again.” She gestured with her chin towards where Rapunzel had run off and Eugene suddenly remembered what he had been planning on doing.

“Ah, shoot, right. I’mma go after Blondie so she doesn’t get herself lost.” The caravan was moving slow enough that it wasn’t difficult for the rogue to hop off and hit the ground running. He’d have to rile Cassandra up another time.

He only made it maybe a half dozen steps before he turned around back towards the caravan. He reached up and grabbed one of their maps from the little slots on the side of the driver’s bench. “Probably gonna need one of these,” he explained and used it to salute Cassandra before returning to chasing after Rapunzel’s trail of golden hair.

Rapunzel, long lost Princess to the Kingdom of Corona, bearer of golden magic hair, the reason he had experienced a new life living in a castle, yada yada yada. She was the most amazing girl in the world, and he was devoted to her heart and soul.

Eugene could have fond feelings for Stalyan, even if those fond feelings were sometimes not-so-fond and accompanied by decisions that, in hindsight, were pretty terrible.

He could have those same fond feelings stirred up by Cassandra, even if those fond feelings were kinda troubling and more than a little confusing and probably just connected to reminders of Stalyan so there was no reason to keep thinking about it because they couldn’t be about Cassandra herself, no siree.

He could even have fond feelings for Sandra and her large servings of roast beef, even if those fond feelings were localized in his stomach and taste buds rather than his heart and soul.

But nothing could compare to the dream of the future that he wanted to share with Rapunzel. She was his whole world, his guiding light, his literal sunshine.

Whatever was coming, wherever they would end up, the big changes ahead, he was going to be by her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Chapter 1 of Season 2! Great google eyed gophers, I'm excited to go through this. Partly because it's such a bonkers season, but mostly because there's SO MUCH RELATIONSHIP explored between our three characters. I'm ecstatic for "Rapunzel: Day One" and "Rapunzeltopia" while also anxious for both of "Rapunzel and The Great Tree Parts I and II".
> 
> It's going to be a bumpy ride, but it'll be slower. Kinda like the caravan.
> 
> Anyways, as always, I am fueled by your critiques, comments, and all the like so please, please, please tell me what you thought of this chapter, and what you're expecting in chapters to come!


	2. A Meal at Varderos’s Okayest Restaurant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Have You Seen This Man? Exhaustion Through Emaciation. Beers, and Their Burning Sensations. Peace at the Back of a Carriage. Peace in a Best Friend’s Hand. Leaving an Open Seat. Not a Fever, but a Flush. Foot Doesn’t Foot the Bill. Grasping at Change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just before "Beyond the Corona Walls Part II"

Rapunzel thought she was used to all these changes already.

It had been just over two weeks since they had left Corona and she felt like she adapted to the outside world quite well. All in all, outside of Corona was not much different than inside of Corona: small hamlets of people herding their sheep and pigs, waterfalls, caves, more butterflies than she’d expected, but all in all, it wasn’t that different.

Of course, that was before they had reached Varderos.

That was before they’d lost Eugene.

“Have you seen this man? He looks just like this, but the nose is _much_ better looking!” Rapunzel held up one of Eugene’s old wanted posters, desperately trying to attract the attention of anyone who would listen. Which none of them would.

The people of Varderos were not what she had expected at all. Lance had described Varderos as “The City of Fun and Games”, but as far as Rapunzel could tell there was not much fun being had here. She had noticed that there _were_ games, so that hadn’t been wrong. It’s just those games usually involved beating, stabbing, and stealing. Nothing involving any sportsmanship, something Rapunzel felt was crucial to any real game.

“Excuse me, have any of you seen--” OK, those men must have been in a rush to be somewhere...

“Miss, sorry, miss? Did you happen to see--” That woman probably hadn’t heard Rapunzel calling out to her.

“Ma’am, could you please just stop for one second?” To Rapunzel’s surprise the woman did stop momentarily.

“No,” the hunched woman said, turning back around and continuing on her path. “Ya clod!”

“C’mon Princess, I don’t think we’re gonna get any help here.” Rapunzel looked up at the red nosed goon addressing her. “Let’s go try checking inside one of the restaurants, maybe those thugs stopped t’get something to eat? Kidnapping is hungry work.” Hookfoot gave her a grin that could have been described as toothy had the thug a proper set of teeth.

On her shoulder Pascal made a comforting squeak. Brow wrinkled and eyes downcast, Rapunzel could only nod. Hookfoot gently placed his hand on her shoulder and guided her in a seemingly random direction. “Great, cause Lance and Eugene were the ones with all the foods, so I’m still plenty hungry myself!” The two of them, plus Pascal, made their way through the crowd towards the nearest eating establishment, which of course was some sort of bar. It seemed like every place in this city was a bar of some kind.

“Cheer up, Your Highness. Eugene and Lance’ll be totally fine, I’m sure of it! The two of them are a pair of the toughest guys I’ve ever met, and I’ve met lotsa tough guys!” Hookfoot thumped his chest as he sat the two of them down at a table. Rapunzel made no real effort at her own autonomy and let him guide her. She felt entirely drained, either because of the painful heartbreak of having learned Eugene had been kidnapped or, more likely, because she hadn’t eaten in some time.

Pascal jumped off her shoulder onto the table and looked like he immediately regretted it. Rapunzel took that as a warning not to lay her head on the surface despite desperately wanting to. Hookfoot was shouting something angrily, arguing loudly with someone Rapunzel hoped worked there before sitting down with a big grin on his face.

“There ya go! I got us a chicken to split,” the thug beamed. Apparently shouting obscenities at the waitstaff was appropriate etiquette for the city.

“You forgot Shorty,” Rapunzel muttered.

“Wah? Shorty eaten plenty already! Plus, he ain’t here.” Hookfoot scratched his head and looked confused. Well, more confused than usual.

“I meant when you said they’ll be fine. You didn’t mention Shorty.” Rapunzel wasn’t quite sure where she was going with this, but she felt the need to say… something.

“Oh. Yeah. Ah, Shorty’ll be fine for sure! He was fine for two weeks sleeping in the trunk of the caravan, he can survive anywhere.” Hookfoot began scraping at a splotch on the wooden table that Pascal was desperately trying to stay away from. “And besides, last I saw Lance was using him to whack the stuffing out of a guy!”

This got a small laugh out of Rapunzel. In all likelihood, Hookfoot hadn’t been trying to make a joke and Lance had actually been using Shorty as an impromptu weapon, but in her tiredness, Rapunzel would have laughed at most anything.

“Yeah, I dunno how we never noticed the guy. I mean, you’d think we’d have heard him or something. _Smelled_ him at least!” Hookfoot succeeded at picking the splotch up off the table surface only to have it stuck to his fingernail. He tried waving his hand to get it off, but it stuck.

“I think we were used to that kind of smell,” Rapunzel responded halfheartedly. Pascal agreed by pinching his nose and waving his hand in front of his face; his tail was pointing accusatorially at Hookfoot.

“Huh, you’re probably right.” Hookfoot raised an arm and sniffed himself. That Rapunzel didn’t immediately lose her appetite from the sight and smell was a testament to how hungry she was. “I haven’t taken a bath since Tuesday. Of last week.” Rapunzel didn’t respond. She already knew that… the whole caravan knew that.

Rapunzel had questioned early on why Eugene had chosen this particular Pub Thug to accompany them on their journey. She had agreed to allow him to bring Lance and another of the thuggish goons from the Snuggly Duckling on their trip as extra protection, but of all of the choices she never would have expected Hookfoot.

“He’s a great guy, Blondie!” Eugene had said. The two were standing on the platform on the back of the caravan, watching the land behind them grow longer and longer as they slowly moved on. It hadn’t been a week since they left Corona at this point. “You couldn’t ask for a better partner in a brawl. I mean, besides Vladimir, that guy’s built like a barrel. And I guess Atilla’s pretty tough, too. And you’d be surprised how vicious Ulf can be in a fight. But after the three of them, Hookfoot is your best bet! Oh, wait, Big Nose is pretty wiry, actually. You’d want him by your side in a brawl. Ya’see, this is why you should have let me bring more than just one guy.”

Rapunzel leaned her head against Eugene’s shoulder, enjoying the feeling of a world she’d never seen before. “Sounds like there were a lot of better options,” she pointed out.

She felt Eugene’s arm shift around her to hold her close to him and the feeling of a shrug. “Eh, to be honest, everyone else had better things to do. Foot doesn’t have a job.” Rapunzel gave a little laugh and nod. It was a fair point.

At the time she had felt so at peace. A simple carriage ride, the sun just beginning to set as the day grew late, watching the trees go by, but most importantly she was being held by Eugene. If she had to spend the rest of her life here in his arms, she would be happy.

And now he was gone. Kidnapped by thugs in a city she didn’t know.

“… so that’s where this rash came from!” It was not the best time for Rapunzel’s attention to return to the present, but if she had been paying attention any sooner, she’d likely have context as to _what_ rash Hookfoot was referring to and she decided she was better off not knowing. “Oh, great, the food’s here!”

A plate with a small chicken was placed on the table. Pascal dodged its placement, the waiter barely looking at where he’d set the food down. It was… cooked surprisingly well. It smelled good and didn’t seem to be burnt in any discernible way. Rapunzel considered that ruffians liked good food.

The pristine condition of the food was dashed when Hookfoot shoved his hands into the bird, desiccating the food into ugly bite sized strips. “Dig in!” he said as he tossed a chunk into his mouth and licked his fingers. Rapunzel was too hungry to be disgusted and began chewing on a strip.

“Mhmm… That’s certainly chicken alright,” she said through her full mouth. “It’s a bit dry, though. Can you ask for some wa--” she was cut off by the dual thud of two steins of beer placed onto the table with the lack of care you’d expect. At least Pascal knew where the general ickiness of the table came from.

“Oh, no, I was hoping for some water, actually,” she tried to say, but the waiter no longer paid her table any attention.

“Hah! No way, Princess. You do _not_ want to drink the water in this town.” Hookfoot laughed and brought his stein to his lips, drinking in loud gulps. Rapunzel swallowed her dry chicken and hesitantly followed suit.

“Oh, mhmm…” Rapunzel said through coughs. “That burns.” She’d have thrown an exclamation mark at the end of that statement, but the burning in her throat did not allow it.

“Yeah, isn’t it great?” Hookfoot said before stuffing more chicken in his mouth. Pascal gave the thug a face of disgust and was rewarded with a wry smile from Hookfoot and a loud belch in the poor lizard’s face. The force of it nearly bowled Pascal over, but the smell finished the job. The chameleon fainted.

“Hookfoot!” Rapunzel said, picking Pascal up worriedly. She stroked his head and frowned at her ersatz bodyguard.

“What? You gotta loosen up, Your Highness!” He was already downing more beer.

“You’ve got to stop calling her that,” a voice behind them said, the gloved hand of Cassandra reached between the two in order to grab a strip of chicken herself. “We can’t let anyone else here know she actually _is_ Royalty and that’s not some nickname.”

“Cass!” Rapunzel stood and hugged her friend, who wrapped an arm around her, the other occupied with eating more chicken. “Did you find anything? Do you know what happened to Eugene?”

“And Lance and Shorty,” Hookfoot chimed in.

“Yeah, and them. Did you learn anything?” Rapunzel could tell her voice was getting increasingly frantic but considering everything, she felt it was appropriate.

“Sorry, Raps. No luck.” Cass rotated their bodies so she could take the seat Rapunzel had just vacated. She looked at what had been Rapunzel’s beer stein and looked at a freshly recovered Pascal on Rapunzel’s shoulder. The Lady-in-Waiting made a gesture and Pascal nodded, letting her know the beverage was indeed Rapunzel’s. Without hesitation Cassandra drank from Rapunzel’s stein. She didn’t seem to find it burning like Rapunzel had.

“We have to get back out there!” Rapunzel said sternly. “There’s so many people in this city, we’ve barely scratched the surface. Someone, _someone_ has to know what happened to them!” The Princess stomped her foot and clenched her fists in a huff.

“I’m not gonna argue with you, Raps, but a short break isn’t going to make finding him any worse. Shorty ate all our food and we need to recharge a bit.” Cassandra said, taking one of Rapunzel’s clenched fists in her hand and trying to unclench it. “We’ll be no help to finding Eugene and them if we push ourselves to exhaustion. Just, sit down and rest for a moment.”

“That’s what I was saying!” Hookfoot added, waving down a waiter with his empty beer stein. “Hey, hey! I need another one here! Ugh, such terrible service.” The thug got up and made a stronger effort to cure his terrible condition of ‘no more beer’.

Rapunzel let her hands relax in Cassandra’s hand. Just having her hand held by her best friend gave Rapunzel a sense of peace. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I really should eat.”

Rapunzel collapsed back into her chair, not caring that Cassandra was still occupying it. The Princess simply sat in her Lady-in-Waiting’s lap, perpendicular to Cassandra’s legs. “I’m just so worried. Hookfoot said the guys that took them were _big_ guys. That can’t be good!”

“Uh, Raps?” Cassandra said in a much meeker voice than Rapunzel was used to. She almost didn’t hear her friend in the din of the restaurant. Noticing Cassandra’s eyes darting from her to the plate of chicken in front of Hookfoot’s empty chair Rapunzel stretched her arm out for the plate. She dragged it closer to the two of them as Pascal leapt from Rapunzel’s shoulder to the top of Cassandra’s head in order to better snatch a fly out of the air.

“I got it.” Rapunzel ripped a strip of chicken off the carcass and held it out for Cassandra at mouth height. “Here, you must be hungry.” For some reason Cassandra seemed hesitant to eat the chicken she was offering. “Oh, did you want the beer instead?” She tried to turn but was interrupted.

“No!” Rapunzel stopped and furrowed her brow at Cassandra. “Uh, no, I did mean the chicken.” Rapunzel just looked on at Cassandra in confusion as she gingerly bit into the chicken that Rapunzel held, pulling it into her mouth and chewing. What was wrong with her?

“You alright, Cass?” Rapunzel held one elbow out for Pascal to hop back onto her while the other hand stripped another piece of too-dry-chicken. Turning back to her Lady-in-Waiting Rapunzel noticed her face was red. “You’re not getting sick, are you?” She used the hand that had helped Pascal back onto her shoulder and held it against Cassandra’s forehead. Her face got even redder.

“Ah!” It was an exclamation much shriller than Rapunzel was used to. “No, no, I’m fine. Totally fine.” Cassandra pushed Rapunzel’s hand away from her, reaching around the blonde’s body to grab the stein of beer.

“Just the beer. I’m feeling a bit flushed, it must creep up on you.” Cassandra pulled the stein to her lips with both hands, staring intently at the liquid. Her face only got redder and Rapunzel figured it best to let her alone to enjoy her beer. She seemed to like it!

Hookfoot returned with two steins of beer this time, sitting back down and plopping the two steins onto the table. “Thanks for leaving my seat open for me,” he said. “This is for you Prin-- I mean, this is for you _Rapunzel_. I also put in an order for some ham.” The Pub Thug looked at the mostly eaten chicken in disappointment. “Thought we could do with another helping if we’re gonna head back out there.”

A snap rang out just by Rapunzel’s ear and a Hookfoot flinched. Pascal’s tongue expertly snatched a fly from where it had been circling around Hookfoot’s head. “Oh, hey, thanks little guy! Was wondering what that sound was.” He brought his hand up and scratched the bald spots between the little hair he had.

Rapunzel picked up her stein, looking at the foamy liquid and remembering the burning sensation in her throat the last time she’d drunken it. She closed her eyes and took another sip, reencountering that burn. “Hey, Hookfoot. How are you paying for all this, anyways?”

Hookfoot didn’t answer at first, chewing through some chicken and then turning to spit a chicken bone onto the floor. “Me? I thought you’d be able to pay for it. I mean, you’re the Royal-- uh, rich-- uh… you’ve got the monies. I figured you’d pay when we’re done, then we can go right back to search’n for Lance and Eugene! Oh, and Shorty.” He tore a wing off the chicken and began gnawing at it.

Rapunzel took a deep breath through her nose, instantly regretted it, and let out a deep sigh. “I guess I’ll take care of the bill, then.”

She really wasn’t getting a grasp on all these changes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is on the shorter side, but I think the scene concluded where it should. I could have delved deeper into Cassandra's reaction to Rapunzel's choice of seat, but from Rapunzel's perspective she wouldn't have noticed or even comprehended what her best friend was feeling. Still, I thought it was a cheeky way to show that Rapunzel still doesn't quite understand how her totally natural displays of affection can be interpreted differently… or perhaps its being interpreted accurately and _she's_ the one who isn't connecting the dots? Who knows.
> 
> I had fun giving more life to Hookfoot, and possibly providing a reason why he was chosen to accompany them (in conjunction with my previous explanation at the end of Season 1).
> 
> As always, let me know what you thought! Kudos and Comments inspire me to write more and write faster. I've kind of shifted to an update every other week, I've got a bunch of other fan fic ideas to write for different fandoms. But this epic endeavor is my priority and if inspiration strikes me you may get more chapters sooner!


	3. Rewriting a Missive Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Concise Reports, and When to Use Them. What Kind of Response? Touchy-Feely-Ness. A Sleepover. A Wild Child. The Princess’s Weakness? Not Feeling Queasy. Honeybuns for Honey Bun. Fresh Parchment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between "Beyond the Corona Walls Part II" and "The Return of Quaid"

Cassandra was considering changing the letter she just finished writing.

> Captain,
> 
> Apologies for the delay in report. Our caravan ran into difficulty as we arrived in the city of Varderos. First & foremost the source of our missing provisions was discovered. A one Shorty was found stowed away in our Caravan. How we were unable to discover him & his smell is still a ~~mistery~~ mystery.
> 
> Upon arriving at Varderos members of our party (Eugene Lance Shorty) were kidnapped, thankfully that excluded the Princess whom I kept strict eye upon. I suggested the perfectly reasonable recourse to return to Castle for further reinforcements. This suggestion was strongly vetoed by the Princess.
> 
> A successful rescue was mounted & bandits repelled.
> 
> We now rest in the city until our supplies can be replenished. I suspect the Princess is slowing the process on purpose so she may ‘enjoy the city’. I will send another missive when we depart Varderos.
> 
> ~~Your loving daug~~ At your service,
> 
> Cassandra

She was laying in her hammock on the Girls Side of the caravan staring at the parchment and biting her lower lip. She idly twirled the quill in between her fingers, not caring that she was spilling the remaining ink dripping off its tip. There was something _off_ about the letter that was eating at her.

It was similar to the reports she knew her father received from his men every now and then. She had sneaked some off his desk enough times in her endeavor to succeed her father as Captain of the Royal Guard someday. But for some reason, she didn’t feel right about this letter.

Cassandra put the dried quill back into its holster on the side of the ink pot and rolled the parchment in her hand.

A week ago, she had sent a similar letter via Owl to her father detailing any bumps on the road the caravan had encountered. Due to the mind-numbingly boringness of the trip up to that point, she had resorted to writing about _actual_ bumps on the road. That had been simple enough. When Owl returned, he did not bring with him a response letter.

Which was fine. It _was_ mostly an empty letter. What would he write in response? ‘Thank you for reporting nothing’? ‘Keep up driving the caravan’? ‘I hope you’re doing well’?

She closed her eyes and let her head drop backwards, causing the hammock to swing a little. That last thought was so unlike her.

Spending so much time with Rapunzel must have been getting to her. She’d spent almost every moment of her day with Rapunzel back in Corona, it was her duty as her Lady-in-Waiting after all. But now while they were on the road, they shared a rather cramped space and Cassandra’s hammock was directly beneath Rapunzel’s. Some part of Cassandra had hoped that some of her fastidious nature would rub off on the Princess, but it seemed some of the Princess’s touchy-feely-ness had rubbed off on Cassandra instead.

Still, it was nice to be able to spend the nights with Rapunzel. The golden-haired ball of energy had bombarded Cassandra with questions and conversation topics, treating the whole affair like one long sleepover. And at first, Cassandra had resisted. A strict sleep schedule meant the caravan would spend less downtime waiting for people to wake up, prepare their meals, and head out again which in turn meant they could make better time on the journey. But that had quickly been dashed by the slipshod nature of the _boys’_ sleeping habits.

And so, Cassandra gave in and joined Rapunzel in conversation at night. It was… pleasant. There were topics Cassandra vehemently resisted, of course.

“So, you never think about your birth parents _at all_?” Rapunzel had asked her one night.

“Well, not _at all_ , but it’s not really a subject I like to think about. I’d really prefer if we talked about something else.” Cassandra stared up at the Princess’s back through the mesh of Rapunzel's hammock. A blanket was strewn across it to make it more comfortable, but the distribution of the Princess’s weight meant her Lady-in-Waiting could clearly make out her Lady’s figure. The slender curves of her hips and the way her shoulders curled inward to support the massive braid of hair were on full display. Cassandra had spent many nights of their fortnight on the road staring up at it.

“Fine, fine. In that case, tell me more about growing up with the Captain as your father. Was he as strict with you as he is with his men?” Cassandra watched Rapunzel shift her weight so her head peeked over the side of the hammock and down at Cassandra. The center of gravity of the hammock above shifted down towards Rapunzel’s bum, which Cassandra made a concentrated effort not to notice.

“Lay down properly, Raps, or you’ll end up falling out of your hammock again!” Cassandra chided her Lady. “And no, he wasn’t strict. At least not at first. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but I was kind of a brat when I was young.” She gave a chuff of laughter thinking back at how she had resisted the simplest of things and talked back to her father. “It’s really a good thing he became so strict with me, I can’t imagine how I’d have turned out if he didn’t lay down the law with me every so often.”

She heard Rapunzel laugh as the Princess returned to laying in her hammock more appropriately. “I can’t imagine it, _you_ running wild and disobeying _the Captain_.” Cassandra joined in on the laughter from how Rapunzel said the last two words: like her dad was some sort of force of nature. “I mean, you’re the one who tells _me_ to stop running wild!”

Rapunzel had a point and the irony only brought more laughter out of Cassandra. “No, no, you’re right. But see? If my dad hadn’t taught me how to be serious, I’d not be able to reign in _your_ wild side.” Cassandra reached up and poked Rapunzel right between the shoulder blades, eliciting a yip from the Princess.

“Hey! Stop that!” Rapunzel giggled.

“Yeah, Raps? What’ya gonna do about it?” Cassandra gave another poke, lower this time along Rapunzel’s spine. She was rewarded with more giggles. “Say, you’re not ticklish there, are ya?”

Rapunzel visibly recoiled, shifting her weight so she was on her side and her back out of Cassandra’s reach. “No!” she said with too much emphasis.

“Oh-ho-ho! I see how it is!” And with that Cassandra sat up in her hammock, giving her much greater reach. “Now I know the Princess’s weakness!” she declared as she exploited it, pushing her hands through the mesh and blanket to playfully run her fingers along Rapunzel’s vulnerable sides and back.

“No! Hahaha, no, Cass! Stop, heeheehee, I mean it!” Rapunzel was rolling in the hammock now, doing her best to stay out of Cassandra’s reach but failing due to how close their hammocks hung together.

Cassandra only stopped because of a banging on the internal wall of the Caravan and the sound of Eugene’s voice. “Keep it down, you two! What do you two think you’re doing?” he shouted.

“Yeah, I wanna know _exactly_ what they’re doing,” came the overly interested voice of Hookfoot, followed by a slap and an exclamation of pain.

“OK, _that’s_ a time out for you, Foot. And you two! Go to bed!” There was an exasperated groan from the other side of the wall. “I can’t believe _I’m_ the one saying that.”

Much more quietly the two girls giggled at the circumstance and returned to a more proper sleeping position.

“G’night, Cass,” Rapunzel said from above, barely a whisper.

“Good night, Raps,” Cassandra responded.

Looking back on it now, and the many similar nights like it, Cassandra could clearly see just _how much_ Rapunzel’s behavior had rubbed off on her. When had Cassandra begun starting to copy Rapunzel’s mannerisms? When had Cassandra begun to be so _expressive_? She had cultivated a reputation for _not_ being expressive and yet, around Rapunzel, she felt like she could just let loose.

It was more than just being comfortable. There was a happiness that just being with Rapunzel evoked in Cassandra. How to describe it?

“Soft? Warm?” Cassandra tried saying a few words to see if it would help her understand. “Curled. No, that’s not it. Wrapped? What, like a pastry? That can’t be it.” She threw her legs off the hammock and walked to the vanity set against the far wall. She looked at herself in its mirror and tilted her head. Scrunching her eyebrows together she tried another word. “Cuddly?”

She didn’t feel sick. She _thought_ she’d feel sick after saying that. She straightened her head and loosened her expression. “Cuddly,” she tried again. Still not sick. “Snuggly,” she said, daring to go further. She drew out the syllables of the word, daring it to make her feel queasy.

“Huh,” she said to the her in the mirror.

“Honey bun, have I got a honeybun for you!” The door to the Girls Side of the caravan burst open and Eugene stepped one foot in holding a honeybun in each hand, biting into the one in his right. “There’s _actually_ a decent baker in this town who makes a _fantastic_ sweet roll and I just _had_ to share it with _my_ sweet roll!” he exclaimed through the mouthful of honeybun.

Cassandra looked at him with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms, just waiting for the moment of realization to hit him that his girlfriend was not, in fact, in the room.

And it was sweet. The way his face went from a sugar high fueled elation to confusion and then to shame with just a _touch_ of disappointment, Cassandra would have burst out laughing. But just because she was feeling compassionate today reigned in her emotions to simply a wry smile.

She strode over to him still standing with one foot in the door like he was some sea captain looking over the side of his ship and gingerly took the unbitten honeybun from the stunned rogue’s other hand.

“Why, I am _so_ glad you thought of me,” she gave Eugene the snarkiest of snarky looks she had in her repertoire and leaned down to his face. “ _Honey bun_.” Cassandra placed a finger on Eugene’s forehead and pushed him backwards oh so gently so he stumbled back out the door. “Your girlfriend’s off with that Vex kid. Oh, and I promise not to tell her about our new little nickname,” she added oozing with extra sarcastic contempt with a wink on top for good measure. And with that she slammed the door in his face.

“Oh, c’mon!!!” Eugene shouted his disappointed catchphrase loud enough that Cassandra suspected the whole city heard it and allowed herself that laugh she had reigned in before.

With her free hand she unrolled the letter she had been working on.

> ~~Your loving daug~~ At your service,
> 
> Cassandra

That was it. That was what had been eating at her. She could either write the missive as a report to a superior office, or a letter from daughter to father. Looking at the her in the mirror, Cassandra realized which one Rapunzel’s influence was leaning her towards. She crumpled the parchment and tossed it into a bin attached to the vanity’s side.

“Snuggly,” Cassandra said again to the her in the mirror. The unease she expected to feel never came. She shrugged and took a bite out of the honeybun she had stolen from Eugene.

“Huh. This _is_ good,” she said as she returned to her hammock with a fresh piece of parchment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TEN YEARS! Can you believe Tangled came out Ten Years ago??? November 24th, 2020 was the Ten Year Anniversary of Tangled's commercial release and boy, that makes me feel old. I had a watch party with my friends over Discord, and I suckered a few of them into watching the first few episodes of Tangled the Series. Yes, induct them into the fandom! Read that last sentence as a maniacal, evil space wizard.
> 
> This was a shorter chapter partly because I really wanted to get something out. I felt bad that I had missed my two week update deadline by a whole week, leaving all of this bubbling in my head and not put on paper. Or, text box. Or whatever, you get me.
> 
> Anyways, this was not fully proofread, so apologies on that. I'll likely go back and proofread these first few chapters at some point, so please excuse any erroneous grammar or awkward tense structure you come across.
> 
> Actually, no, don't excuse it. Point it out to me. Tell me where they are so I may fix it! This is part of the shared experience between writer and reader, a way for both of us to gain better enjoyment from our fandom! This is definitely _not_ a way for me to outsource proofreading. Anyways, feel free to comment whatever you want, leave a kudos, and tell your friends about this fic.
> 
> Until next time!


	4. The Difference Between a Festival and a Carnival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No Need for Change for a Change. Piranhas Stole My Lunch! The Sun and Moon, and Which People Prefer. A Good Mood Leads to Complacent Comfort. A Pig Carcass Makes a Man Bleed. Clay Pigeon Shooting, Without the Clay. Frog Beans, and Not Helping. Being Parental. Being Lame. Meeting Your Heroes. The Feeling of a Teenage Girl. Gopher Hunting Would Have Been Better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> During "Goodbye and Goodwill"

Eugene was not expecting any change.

Normally, he’d have whined until he got the change he was due, or even better somehow convinced the person he was dealing with to give him more change than that, but for once, Eugene did not care. He had his meat-on-a-stick and the purveyor could keep the change.

“Mighty nice’f’ya” the woman said, biting down on the coin to test that it was indeed real.

“No-problemo!” Eugene grinned, taking a bite of the kebab with vigor. The familiar flavor of chewy, spicy, mystery meat filled his taste buds and despite having grown used to the high-quality food found in Corona, Eugene missed the taste. Sometimes you just wanted a grimy piece of semi-burnt garbage where you didn’t know the name of the animal it came from.

Well, sometimes you knew the name of the animal it came from. Something like ‘spot’ or ‘fluffy’.

He walked casually between the clumps of people that congregated in the closest thing Varderos had to a town square. People around these parts knew to keep a minimum six feet of distance between themself and those they did not know; it decreased the chances of getting your pocket picked. Something Eugene physically had to restrain himself from doing purely out of habit.

Today was what he used to think of as a ‘target rich environment’ back when he was Flynn Rider. A festival was where people were expecting entertainment and thus had quite a bit of expendable income on their persons. Today was the day Rapunzel had decided to introduce Varderos to The Goodwill Gopher Grab.

It was ridiculous, of course, to think the idea of ‘goodwill’ existed in Varderos. Heck, it was ridiculous to think ‘ _good_ ’ existed in Varderos before Quaid had reluctantly made his return. But Quaid was back, and the city was actually starting to clean up their act which began with _actually_ cleaning up.

The town square was only _barely_ covered in trash now!

“Piranha Dunk Tank, huh?” Eugene wondered out loud as he passed an interesting stall.

There was a large vat of water filled with lazy looking fish, not so much swimming but meandering. A portly man whose ‘port’ showed itself prominently between the strained fabric of his shirt and the courageous waistline of his pants sat on a small board above the vat. People were taking turns throwing balls at a target connected to the small board.

“Wanna give it a try?” a burly man asked Eugene, tossing a ball up and down in one hand. Not too bad an approach for a carnie barker.

“I dunno, if they’re supposed to be piranhas, shouldn’t they be… hungrier?” Eugene capped the sentence by taking a bite of his meat-on-a-stick.

Before the booth barker could respond the two saw the portly man, who had stopped the scratching of his exposed belly to inspect something his finger had found in his belly button, fall.

There was a cheer from the crowd queued up for their own turn to throw, a ring of a bell indicating that the target had, indeed, been hit, and loudest of all was the high pitched screech of the man now being eaten alive in the dunk tank.

“YEOW! AHH! OUCH! GET ME OUTTA HERE!” This was only a sample of the most articulate of the sounds the portly man was making, along with burbles of struggling breath and other noises that usually were the symptoms of intense pain.

After the cheers of the crowd died down the burly barker and another man helped the portly piranha bait out of the vat and onto the grown. He was covered in bite marks and his clothes were in tatters. Thankfully the waistline of his pants had lived up to their courageous efforts and still kept his trousers on.

Through heavy breathing, the sounds of drowning, and gasps of air the portly man began to laugh. “Best. Carnival. Ever.” It was not a sentiment Eugene had expected from someone who had just been mauled by fish, but it technically also _wasn’t_ a sentiment he had expected either.

“Yeah, you know what? I’m good,” Eugene finally said once the excitement had died down. He was beginning to walk away when the child who had thrown the prize-winning ball bumped into him now holding a poorly made wooden bat as a prize. Eugene fumbled his portable meal into the dunk tank and watched forlornly as the fish took the reduced the meat-on-a-stick into just a-stick.

“Oh, c’mon!” Eugene shouted as the wooden skewer came sailing out of the tank to land in his open palms. “I paid good money for that!”

The carnival barker, the other man who had lifted the portly man out of the tank, the portly man, and the child all laughed at the foodless man yelling at fish. “Ugh, whatever!” was all Eugene could muster as he stormed off.

“Oh, and great. Now there’s a line!” he shouted to himself this time, seeing the meat-on-a-stick vendor now swamped with customers hungry for mystery meat. The ex-thief threw his hands in the air and contented himself to mill aimlessly through the carnival.

That’s what Cassandra had turned the Goodwill Gopher Grab into. A carnival. Back in Corona the Gopher Grab were a ‘festival’, an activity bearing much resemblance to but distinctly different from a ‘carnival’. Sure, both were sources of merriment and joy to the public that brought out a kinship to all that participated, but a festival expected the merriment and joy to be _fair_. A carnival had none of those moral scruples. Only a few years back Eugene would have been running his own stall here, earning money in morally scruple-less ways.

Well, Flynn Rider would have been running a stall. Probably a shuffle game, or perhaps one of those games where you pick a rope to pull and you get to keep whatever prize the rope was attached to. Obviously, the best prizes weren’t actually connected to any ropes; they just looked like they were.

But that was before he reclaimed the identity of Eugene Fitzherbert. Before Rapunzel’s good influence turned him into a person who would _call out_ a booth that so flagrantly broke the unspoken rules between scammer and rube. Young him would think he was so lame right now.

Eugene found himself at the dividing line between the section Cassandra had set up and where Rapunzel had made hers. The difference was like the sun and the moon and boy did people prefer the moon.

Behind him, on the moon side, were laughing crowds of rubes, all lining up to give their money away for a little bit of fun. There were games of shouting and violence and the crowd was eating it up.

In front of him, on the sun side, were tired huddles of festival attendees, all resting their laurels after giving their money away and having a little too much fun on the moon side. There were also spare apples from Rapunzel’s apple bobbing and the festival attendees were eating them up.

Eugene inwardly cringed and searched for where his surely demoralized beloved may be. He could only spot the tired and disinterested, which was probably for the best. Eugene didn’t want to see his Sunshine looking sad and dim.

“Out of the way, Fitzherbert!” came a happy and bright shout behind him. Ah, and that would be the owner of the moon side right now. Eugene would have gotten ‘outta the way’ had he been given time but found himself face flat in the dirt instead. Good gophers, this woman was such a pain in his backside. And frontside, considering which way he had fallen.

“Yeesh, have you got to be _such a pain_ all the time? Today’s supposed to be about _goodwill_ after all!” Eugene said as he rolled over to look up at Cassandra carrying two large boxes, the one on top overflowed with crossbow bolts with blunted ends. He had expected to be yelling it at the woman’s backside but was surprised to see she had stopped.

“Hah!” She said, letting the boxes fall from her hands with a loud thud. “I suppose you’re right, _Honey Bun_ ,” she said, holding her hand out to him. Oh great. She still remembered that one. But at least she seemed to be in a genuine good mood, probably due to how _well_ her parts of the Goodwill Gopher Grab was going. He took the hand she offered and was pulled up off the ground.

“Take a look, Eugene! The whole city is _loving_ my festival!” She stood triumphantly with her arms spread in excitement. Eugene had to admit, she’d earned the enthusiasm.

“Yeah, I didn’t think the people of Varderos would ever come together like this, but you really pulled it off. There’re folks here enjoying themselves that I thought couldn’t stand the sight of each other. Now instead of swinging table legs at each other they’re swinging table legs _with_ each other.” Eugene gestured at two of the ugliest thugs he’d ever seen beating what looked like a human-shaped piñata. It also seemed to be bleeding. “Uh, there's not actually a person in there, right?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Cassandra said as she placed a reassuring arm on Eugene’s shoulder. “It’s just a human shaped sack stuffed with a pig carcass. If anyone hits it hard enough to burst in less than a half dozen swings, they get a prize.” Cassandra used her free hand to point just beyond the pair where a woman just as ugly as the two men was standing guard over a turned over box. Tiny versions of the piñata man were spilling out of it. “You didn't think I’d actually put a _person_ in there, did you?”

Eugene made an effort to shrug but realized Cassandra leaning on his shoulder prevented that, so instead crossed his arms and just made a face. “No, no… well, maybe. But in this place, I think you could have gotten away with it.”

Cassandra laughed and Eugene chuckled at the absurdity of Varderos culture. It was once again the City of Fun & Games. Immoral fun and violent games, but still. This was the Varderos Eugene remembered scampering around with Lance when they had been growing up. There even was Quaid up on a platform looking down at everyone. Sure, he was a little greyer than he used to be, maybe a bit softer around the edges, but so was Varderos.

As the pair’s laughter died down Eugene let his head lean to the side with a cocky grin on his face. He felt the side of his rest upon a comfy mass of curly hair and heard the last heaved sigh a person makes when they’ve had a good laugh.

“Sometimes I miss this kind of stuff when we were back in Corona,” Eugene said longingly.

“Yeah, I’ve never had this kind of fun before. I have to admit you were right: this _is_ a first for me.” As Cassandra let out another laugh, more subdued than the one before, Eugene enjoyed the feeling of her unruly hair shaking against his cheek. He’d decided to come to terms with his feelings towards hair and just accept that it was, indeed, his _thing_.

“You ought to spend more time at the Snuggly Duckling, then. Stuff like this happens on a regular basis there. You would've gotten a kick out of the talent show from last year.” Eugene let an evil grin creep on his face as he remembered picking Feldspar, Stan, and Pete’s pockets. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the people closest to them for easy targets out of instinct.

“Nah, I’ve got too many duties at the castle. I’ve got to spend all my time with Rap…unzel…” Cassandra’s voice trailed off and Eugene’s narrowed, mark scanning eyes went wide. As one the two of them separated, taking a big step in opposite directions and facing each other. Based on how her eyes were as wide as his it seemed Cassandra had come to the same, uncomfortable thought he had.

“Uh, hey, speaking of whom, I oughtta go check on her. I was just about to before I ran into you. I mean, you ran into me.” Eugene rubbed the back of his head with one hand while repeatedly pointing behind him with his thumb over his shoulder.

“Oh, yeah, hey, of course!” Cassandra stammered, awkwardly walking to the two big crates she had set down but keeping eye contact with Eugene. “I should’ve been bringing these to the shooting range, anyways. We’re gonna have a clay pigeon shoot, but with real pigeons. If you knock one out, you get to take it home for dinner.” She picked them up again and let it obscure her vision between them but stuck her head out to the side so she could still see him.

“Well. Right. You have fun with that then,” Eugene said walking backwards.

“You, too. I mean, talking to Rapunzel,” Cassandra said, and with that she pulled her head back behind the boxes and turned around to plow through the crowd. “Move it, people! Live ammunition coming through!”

Eugene watched her back as she walked away for a bit, blinking a few times and consciously not letting his mind identify where exactly on her back he was watching, before he closed his eyes and ran a sweaty palm down his face.

“Seeing Stalyan again _really_ messed with my head,” he said to no one, turning on his heel and wandering over to the ‘sun’ side of the festival.

He had no idea where to find Rapunzel, but he was even more adamant he did so now. He saw Pascal trying to coax some people into guessing the number of beans in a jar next to him, but the frog didn’t seem to be having much luck getting them to think of numbers higher than they could count on their fingers. The ones who could reach a number higher than ten were the ones barefoot or wearing sandals.

Eugene decided he wasn’t going to get involved with that.

Walking through the stalls he found the apple bobbing station Rapunzel had been particularly excited about, but no Rapunzel. Much to his surprise he found the squash-nosed face of Quaid’s new deputy looking at him with the same emotion as her namesake.

“Well if it isn’t Vex!” Eugene said with more enthusiasm than he intended. “I thought you’d be up with Quaid, keeping the peace. You know, cause no one else in this city wants it?” He laughed at his own joke, once again with more enthusiasm than he intended. Man was he frazzled now.

“Eh. Felt like taking a break,” Vex said with her disaffected monotone. “Sides, being here gets me free apples.” She reached a hand into the barrel and pulled an apple out of the water, taking a satisfyingly loud bite. Eugene was pretty certain the whole point was you weren't supposed to use your hands while apple bobbing.

“Don’t let Max see you with those or he’ll take’m all for himself,” Eugene warned. Those were the kinds of apples that Maximus _loved_.

“Say, you don’t know where my girlfriend is, do you?” Eugene asked, for some reason compelled to emphasize their romantic connection.

“The Princess? She said she was gonna head back to your caravan. Something about doing some dishes and preparing for tomorrow’s gopher grab thing. She still thinks those two other bozos you came with will find a gopher.” Vex spoke through the apple she was eating, small chunks of apple falling from her lips with every word.

“Hey, chew, swallow, then speak, kid,” Eugene reprimanded her, gently tapping the side of her face with his palm in the same way the women from the orphanage did to him. Wow, younger Eugene would _definitely_ think the present Eugene was totally lame.

Begrudgingly Vex stopped talking to chew, her eyes narrowing in the rebellious way Eugene knew all too well. This was how you had to treat teenagers, though. If not, they’d grow up to be hooligans and delinquents. Eugene knew that for a fact, having grown up to be quite the hooligan and a decent delinquent.

“When did you get to be so _lame_ ,” Vex said after finally swallowing the food in her mouth.

For a brief moment Eugene was taken aback, slack jawed and eyes wide from having heard the internal thoughts of young Eugene voices out loud. “What?” he was able to get out. “You’ve known me for like, two weeks. Tops! What do you mean ‘get so lame’?” Sure, he was just thinking that, but _she_ didn’t know how he used to be.

“Nuhuh. I’ve known you all my life. You used to be Flynn Rider. You spat in the face of rules and good manners. I used to have one of your wanted posters hanging in my bedroom. If I didn’t grow up looking at'm, there’s no way I’d believe a loser like you is Flynn freaking Rider. You’re just some rich idiot like all them other nobs.” Nobs? Vex thought he was some sort of _noble_ now?” She spoke like she had been personally insulted, and Eugene could _feel_ the betrayal in her voice.

Oh no. Had he been Vex’s hero growing up?

Wait, no. _Flynn Rider_ had been her hero.

Not Eugene.

“Whoa, hey, wait just one minute! I’m ain’t no nob! I’m from the streets just like you. Grew up scamming tourists and nickin’ fruit stands just to eat, ‘sactly like you.” Eugene could feel his inner street kid not so much rising to the surface but trying to leap out of the water like a mermaid being majestic.

“Every book I’ve read about you says that, but the real you is riding around the countryside in a royal carriage and hanging out with a _princess_.” Vex’s tone sounded unconvinced. She took another bite of her apple like it was an act of defiance. “That sounds like a nob to me,” she said with her mouth full.

“OK, no, first of all, I didn’t know you could read. Good on you. Keep learning, it’ll do you good.” Just for that moment Eugene’s voice was complimentary, but he immediately went back to the tone he’d learned in the orphanage.

“Second, I said don’t talk with food in your mouth.” He held up a finger accusingly. He’d _just_ said it, was it that hard to follow?

“Next, those books are _made up_. I didn’t even write them. They’re not even written _about me_! They came first, I just took my name from it.” Eugene rushed to explain.

For a moment Eugene looked down at his fingers, having forgotten how many points he was making in his frustration. “Fourth and finally, Flynn Rider always ended up with the pretty girl at the end _anyways_ , so what did you expect was going to happen to him after he made it? He’d still go around stealing while he’s living the good life in a castle? He’s doing what… _I’m_ doing what Flynn always dreamed of.”

Vex’s face softened, moving to take another bite of the apple but stopping herself. Good, she had the choice between talking and chewing and she chose to not do them at the same time. He had gotten through to her about that, and by the looks of it he had gotten through to her about what being ‘Flynn Rider’ was about. Had been about. Whatever.

“Still…” her voice trailed off and she sounded kind of sad. “I thought if I ever met you, you’d be some wild adventurer with a crime lord’s daughter, like Stalyan. Or some other girl off the streets. You know, like you were.”

Oh no. Had he been Vex's c _rush_ growing up?

Wait, no. _Flynn Rider_ had been her crush.

Not Eugene.

“Hey, kid,” Eugene began, placing a hand on her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting way. “It’s nice to imagine but, uh, the real world ain’t like that. The kinds of people you like as a kid usually aren’t the ones you like when you grow up. Love, and, uh, people are way more complicated.” Eugene was in uncharted territory without a map. His little experiment trying to be a father figure had gotten away from him somehow.

There was a bit of a pause, just long enough for Eugene to think he may need to say more, before Vex pushed his hand off her shoulder. “Whatever,” she said in her normal, disaffected teen voice. “I just thought you’d be cooler.”

That worked. Relief washed over Eugene’s face and he let a genuinely happy smile cautiously join the relief. Maybe he’d make a decent parent after all. Either way he decided he shouldn’t try this sort of experiment again for a while. Not like parenthood would come up again any time soon anyways.

“Ya’know, when you guys rolled into town, I thought Cass was your girl. Now _she’s_ cool.” Vex said, taking a loud bite out of her apple and crossing her arms. It was a good thing she had turned to look at Cassandra’s side of the festival, or she’d have seen the panic on his face.

It was only a split second before Eugene regained his composure, but he knew that the panicked face had been the guilty kind that would have invited way too many questions he was not interested in answering. He _really_ needed to find Rapunzel.

“Alright, you hold down the fort here, kiddo,” Eugene said, already walked backwards towards the city exit closest to their caravan. “I’m gonna go help Rapunzel, my _actual_ girl. Friend. My girlfriend, with… whatever.” He spun on his heel when he realized Vex was doing that teenager thing where she stopped caring if he existed.

Eugene felt like today was going to be a _long_ day, and it was only a hair past noon. He had barely survived his first battle against a teenage girl, a foe many a parent deeply feared. But at least it had taken his mind off of that conversation with Cassandra, right up until Vex had brought her up again at the end.

Still, the surprising turn of talking to the teen about love had caught him off guard. He knew about love, sure. He knew for a fact he loved Rapunzel. But that was love from the inside; describing love from the _outside_ had been much more vexing. Heh.

Love was more than just… liking someone. It was sharing interests with someone. Having the same interests as someone. Being intellectual equals and speaking the 'same language'. It was knowing that fighting was okay because it meant you were communicating and you'd still want to spend time together after.

Love was definitely a small part about physical attraction, of course. Well, a big part, really.

But love meant a connection much deeper than you could get from a poster and some stories, and he hoped he helped Vex understand that. Or maybe teenage girls already knew that stuff. This was, after all, uncharted territory for Eugene.

He had loved Stalyan for a time. But that was missing the element of trust and equality, so it has fallen apart in the most spectacular way.

He would proudly admit he loved Lance. But that was a a very different kind of love. One he hoped he didn't need to explain.

Eugene know he loves Rapunzel because… he just did. That was the thing, wasn't it? You just did. She didn't fit all the ingredients for someone you "should" love, and yet Eugene couldn't think of life without her anymore. That was as scary as it was comforting, but it was a good scary and certainly a good comforting.

If Eugene threw all the ingredients of who he _should_ love into a pot, cooked it up just right, and out of it sprang a woman, she'd be someone like…

He really should figure out a way to get his girlfriend and her best friend back together.

He _really_ should have spent the day gopher hunting with Lance and Hookfoot instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally did it, guys! I wrote a chapter with 'Happy Cass' that's not induced by drugs or alcohol! Genuinely happy Cass! And what do you know, it's based around violence and rambunctiousness. I may have taken some liberties because of it, though, but people tend to barely notice something when they're in a good mood and it lasts all of, what, five minutes? But five happy minutes can feel like an hour, hehehe.
> 
> I also took some liberties with Vex. She's a character that I really enjoyed and was a little disappointed she never came back in any way. Her actress delivered her lines great, and deserved more screen time. Anyways, there's nothing to say this _isn't_ the case with her. She's a perfectly healthy teenage girl, and judging by just how fast Flynn Rider got recognized in the beginning of the season, what I wrote isn't too far out there. Flynn Rider's reputation reached far and wide, and I'm sure he had plenty of fans. Varian, for example! And it makes sense for some of those fans to… well, either way I hope it "fit" her characterization.
> 
> My biggest regret this chapter was not being able to fit in "Ya'Clod!" anywhere in it.
> 
> I'm trying to get this updated more than once a month, but we'll see. My state just reinstated the stricter Covid19 laws, so I've got a _lot_ more time on my hands again.
> 
> As always, every kudos, comment, and hit from sharing fuels me to write more. So please, let me know any criticism, any grammar or spelling mistakes, and whatever else you can think of. I'll also accept praise.


	5. Trust in the Caravan’s Rear Balcony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Wheels Go I’ll Follow. Very Important Gentleman. A Happy, Quiet Moment to Add to the Collection. An Unexpected Question. Imaginary Lockpicks. Still Waiting. Feelings, and Giving Up Of. Entirely Unsure. A Confusing Confession. Slipping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few days after "Freebird"

Cassandra knew things had to change.

Their most recent adventure had been… a strange one. To say the least. Never in her life had she ever considered being… a bird. Sure, she had considered flying. Who didn’t? If there was one thing that creepy weirdo had gotten right was that flight was the epitome of ‘freedom’. No limits to movement, just you and wherever you wanted to go.

But being a _bird_? That was… an experience she could have done without.

Cassandra leaned against the back railing of the caravan, watching the road stretch away as Maximus and Fidella pulled them towards their still-unknown destination. She purposely tried to avoid looking up at the clouds.

To be fair, being a bird hadn’t been that bad. In fact, once you got past the utter bizarrity of it, being a bird was actually quite fun. But she still had no interest in transmorgifying herself again anytime soon, though. It reminded her a bit too much of Varian and whatever he had done to his pet racoon.

No, the thing that was bothering her so much right now was Rapunzel.

“C’mon, Raps. You’ve got to be more careful,” she said to no one in particular. “That was reckless and stupid and… ugh, why does it still bother me?” She ran one of her hands through her hair, fingers getting caught in its Tangled nature. She made a harder effort to pull it through, untangling some knots but also pulling out a few more belligerent strands.

“Great, now I’m actually losing my hair over this,” Cassandra mumbled.

“You, too, huh? Yep. Hair today, gone tomorrow!” Cassandra had not expected the shrill voice of the tiny, perpetually intoxicated man known appropriately as Shorty, but in some awkward way, it was reassuring to hear. At least it wasn’t Hookfoot or Lance or Rapunzel herself that had heard her.

“Shorty, what are you doing down there?” She crouched down from the railing to one of the storage racks that hung beneath the carriage. This one had once held the spare wheels to the caravan, but now housed the broken remains of the previous two. And one Shorty, apparently, who was now sticking his head out and looking up at her from below.

“The Princess said this is where wheels go and I thought ‘no one invited ol’ Shorty!’ which was very rude mind you, so I thought if we’ll’s go anywhere, I’ll’s go there first.” The small man said this with such casualness that Cassandra almost thought it a natural response. He let his head dangle backwards so he, too was looking at the road retreating behind the carriage.

“Ey, th’world’s doin that thing again where every’thin’s on the ceiling. Ow.” That last ‘ow’ was due to a small rock in the road hitting the back of the man’s head. “An’ now th’ceiling’s hitting me. How very rude.” Once again, it was said with such casualness that Cassandra almost thought it as natural an observation as getting wet from the rain.

“Get up here, you lug,” Cassandra said as she gripped the man by the shirt and hoisted him onto the rear balcony one handed. It could be considered a feat of strength if Shorty’s center of balance resembled a human’s rather than a sports ball’s.

“Go inside and… do whatever it is you do. Cultivate your yams or something.” Since Shorty’s stowing away had been discovered he’d been nothing but a nuisance for the whole trip. She had half a mind to throw the useless alcoholic overboard and call it an accident when the others went looking for him. It’d certainly be believable: he was just hanging out of the spare wheel rack. Literally.

But Shorty hadn’t been useless, had he? If his stupidity hadn’t gotten him separated from the rest, turned into a peacock of all things, and allowed him to lay an egg Rapunzel would still be trapped as a bird. She figured it best not to think about how a male peacock had been able to lay an egg.

"My yams ain't in no cult!" He responded with actual anger.

"Ugh. Whatever. Just--" Cassandra quickly stopped talking when the door behind her opened and out popped the head of Eugene Fitzherbert.

"There you are." Eugene tilted his head back to the caravan interior. "Hey, Sunshine! Found him! He's out back with Cassandra." She rolled her eyes at the way he mispronounced her name.

"Rapunzel's been looking for you. She wants to ask you a few questions about the other day." Eugene foisted a thumb over his shoulder to usher the short man away.

"Well then. If you'll excuse me; an important gentleman like m'self's work is never done!" The diminutive drunk straightened his back as much as he could and marched back inside. This time it was Eugene who rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows in a shrug.

"So. What were the two of you talking about back here?" Eugene let the door behind him close and leaned against the back railing a little too close to Cassandra.

Instead of stepping away or, better yet, pushing him away, Cassandra took up a mirrored position on the railing, shoulder to shoulder with the ex-thief.

"I’m not entirely sure," she said honestly. She let out a deep sigh and Eugene nodded in understanding. Or shared lack of understanding, as it were, when it came to Shorty.

The two stood there for a moment, silently watching the scenery go by and enjoying the fresh air. It was nice; Cassandra always loved nature and there was something soothing about the sound of the caravan’s wheels trudging along the road. Even her company was a comfort, and not just in comparison to Shorty.

Cassandra had grown up surrounded by strong but kind men; if they weren't both her father would never have let them remain in the Guard. Being with someone who was not only strong and kind, but also loyal, witty, and compassionate made Cassandra happy. Or maybe happy wasn't the right word, but it made her feel something inside.

Provided the man didn't say anything to ruin the atmosphere.

Cassandra realized some of her favorite moments with Eugene were the ones where he kept his mouth shut. At least, for now, she could happily add this moment to that list.

But all good things must come to an end. Cassandra decided she would end _this_ particular slice of happiness on her own terms rather than wait for Eugene to say something stupid.

There was something on her mind that had been bothering her for far longer than it should have been. "Do you think Raps respects me?"

Judging by the face Eugene was making, he hadn't expected a question like that.

"What? Of course she does, Cassandra! There isn't anyone in this world Sunshine likes more than you. Besides me, obviously. It goes me, you, her parents, then everyone else. No, wait, it would go me, _Pascal_ , you, her parents, then everyone else. But you made the top three and that's nothing to sneeze at." The rogue smirked the annoying smirk that made him way too easy to talk to.

"I didn't say 'like', you bozo. I said respect.” She let the emphasis sit in the air as she watched Eugene try to differentiate the two.

Hah, wasn't he just _so cute_ when he’s trying to wrap his dumb, little brain around difficult subjects?

Rather than wait for the last horse to cross the finish line in Eugene’s mind, Cassandra continued on.

"It’s just… it's my job to protect Rapunzel. My sole duty is to make sure she doesn’t do or say anything stupid or dangerous, that’s it. That’s… that’s all I’m here for.” Cassandra paused momentarily thinking about the implications of what she’d just said, but carried on regardless. “But that job shouldn’t be as hard as Raps makes it out to be sometimes!”

Eugene tilted his head in a nod. “You’re talking about the weird bird fiasco.”

“No, no, no, having seventy feet of magical hair is weird. That… that was full blown wacko.” Cassandra felt like she’d said this before, but if she had it was only because it so accurately described the whole incident.

“Right, right, wacko fiasco. Gotcha.” Eugene tapped his temple with two fingers twice in acknowledgement.

“The terrible thing is, I’m not even referring to just the bird thing.” Cassandra unfolded her arms and held her face in her hands, still leaning on the caravan’s back railing.

“Fiasco,” Eugene corrected her.

“Whatever! The bird fiasco,” Cassandra growled into her palms.

“Wacko fiasco,” Eugene continued.

“Fitzherbert! Will you just shut up and listen!?” She released her face from her hands and stared daggers at the blathering idiot.

Said blathering idiot held two hands up in a defensive gesture. He pursed his lips and mimed locking them together, making an extra dramatic display of tossing said imaginary key away. Then he leaned against the railing again, gesturing with his free arm in front of him as if to say ‘go on’. Contented, Cassandra took a deep breath, let it out, and rested her cheek in the palm of her hand.

“Ugh. Even this. This smart-mouthing makes me feel like I’m not respected.” Cassandra looked at the idiot to see if he’d return to blathering. To his credit he just raised his eyebrows in overdramatic indignation but didn’t say a word. Good.

"No, I'm sorry. I don't mean that. We may have had our differences, but I always figured you respected me. Hated me, but respected me, too." She sighed deeply and removed her cheek from her hand, instead turning so she was leaning her back against the railing.

“Recently I feel like Rapunzel likes me, but she doesn't respect me. It’s already a huge risk taking Raps out of Corona at all, and that’s without explicitly looking for more danger! But that’s all that she wants to do. Don’t give me that look, we both know there’s a difference between ‘adventure’ and ‘danger’ and you tell me which one you think the wacko bird fiasco was?” Cassandra had grown more animated as she went on, only pausing now with her finger pointed accusingly at the man.

Once again to his credit, he didn’t say a word. He just shrugged with a sheepish smile.

“Yeah, I thought so. Rapunzel shouldn’t need someone to tell her that ‘visiting the weird people drinking tea on toadstools in the middle of nowhere’ is a bad idea, but here we are, barely a feather away from being turned into birds forever. And that's just the most recent thing; everything has to be some big adventure for her. She'll swing across a river with her hair or hop over rocks when there's a perfectly serviceable fallen tree to use as a bridge. She'll run into a dark cave and rub glowing gunk on her face without knowing what it could be. She'll pick flowers she's never seen before and stuff then in her face for a sniff when she's got no idea if they're poisonous!” Cassandra realized she was growing increasingly erratic in her ranting and pushed away from the railing.

She turned around and put her back against the caravan wall, sliding her body down until she was crouch-sitting in an exhausted lump.

"I'm supposed to keep her safe. I know what safe _is_. But every time I try to tell her, she ignores it. She tells me to 'let loose' or 'give it a try' knowing full well I don't want to do either." She rolled her head back until it thudded against the caravan wall.

A few moments passed in silence but for the sound of the wheels on the unpaved road. Finally she heard Eugene give a small cough. “Okay, fine, you can unlock your lips now," she said dismissively.

“Well, first of all, I’ll have you know I picked that imaginary lock on my mouth ages ago, but kept my mouth shut out of respect to you. Ya'know, cause I respect you." Eugene let out a little grunt as he lowered himself into a sitting position like Cassandra's, only against the railing rather than the wall.

Resting his forearms on his upturned knees to let his hands dangle by the wrists, he looked to the side at the passing scenery rather than directly at Cassandra.

"Look, Cass, I know she's a handful. We both know that. I mean, her handful-ness is what we love about her. But she'll stop if you put your foot down." Eugene picked up a stray piece of straw from the floor and began twirling it between his fingers, finally turning his attention to Cassandra now that he had something to fidget with.

"No, that's the thing, Eugene. I _can't_ put my foot down. Rapunzel is my friend, but she's also my _boss_. I'm her Lady-in-Waiting and she is my Lady. No matter how close we are, I have to wait on her. I'm duty bound to trust her judgement. But she never trusts mine." Now it was Cassandra who wasn't looking at Eugene, instead making a face halfway between indignant and depressed.

"What? Rapunzel doesn't see you like that," Eugene said. He leaned over and flicked his wrist to tap the side of Cassandra's leg with the back of his hand. "You're not just a servant to her, you're her friend." If he was trying to raise her spirits it wasn't working.

"Well she should!" Cassandra snapped. "That's how things are between us! It's how this has been since the very beginning. I am here to serve her. It's my job. It's my _duty_. I'm always putting what I want aside to help her. I gave up hope of joining the Guard, I gave up going to Ingvarr, I gave up _everything_ for her. I'll probably have to give up my feelings, too." Without realizing it, Cassandra had curled her hands into fists and she slowly let them uncurl.

"Give up your feelings? C'mon, Cass, what does that even mean?" Eugene asked with a slight chuckle. It was the chuckle that made even her question what she meant.

"Never mind," she said, bringing both hands to her face again. Her cheeks felt hot. She decided it was from her frustration.

"Alright, how about this." Eugene grabbed onto the railing behind him and used it to pull himself up, brushing himself clean. "Can you really name a single time when you put your foot down, and I mean _really_ put your foot down, and Sunshine ignored you anyways?"

Without a moment's hesitation Cassandra pulled her head out of her hands and stared up at the untrustworthy, loud mouthed, can't-keep-a-secret, ex-thief.

"She told _you_ about what happened the night her hair grew back," she nearly shouted.

Eugene didn't say anything. This time he certainly did not look cute trying to wrap his dumb little brain around this subject.

"Yeah," Cassandra said, realizing she should say something before steam began to rise from Eugene's head. "I was going to be sent to a convent over that. A _literal_ convent, Fitzherbert."

At last Eugene found something to say, and to no surprise it was in defense of himself. "Hey, I didn't tell a soul about that. Rapunzel told her dad about that all on her own."

"That's not the point, Eugene. I didn't trust you back then, and I explicitly told Raps not to tell anyone, especially you. But she did anyway. That's what I mean, she trusted her trust of you more than she trusted my distrust of you because she didn't trust me even though I trusted her to not betray my trust." Before she overheated his brain again she added, "trust me, that tracks."

Once again silence floated between the two. This time, though, Eugene looked like he was really considering his words before he spoke.

"Rapunzel needs you, Cass. She needs you more than she needs anyone, even more than me. Even more than _Pascal_. You may not see it, but what you think means the world to her. She doesn't see you as her servant. She barely understands what being here Lady-in-Waiting means. You are, first and last, her closest, dearest friend. She really does listen to what you have to say." Eugene paused, bringing his hand to his mouth in a fist and gently biting it.

"Sometimes… sometimes I'm jealous of you, Cass. She's _my_ girlfriend. She's _supposed to_ be. I'm the one who gets to hold her, to care for her, the one who gets to love her, but sometimes… sometimes it really feels like I'm not the one she…" Eugene's voice trailed off and he waved his wrist like he could wave the idea away.

Cassandra could only blink. She didn't know how to respond to… well, to _that_. The one she what? There were so many possibilities that he could mean. Too many thoughts ran through her head, all of them purposefully avoiding the most obvious explanation. Why was it whenever she spent time alone with this complete bozo she ended up with too many 'thoughts'?

Before she could really put anything coherent together Eugene coughed and brought her out of her mental jumble. He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked unsure of himself before placing one hand on the wall just above Cassandra's head and leaning over her. His eyes met hers and his voice softened in a soulful way Cassandra rarely got from him.

The kind that made her feel safe, secure, and worst of all _loved_.

"Rapunzel _needs_ you, Cass. You're the one who keeps her grounded. You're her rock. We're chasing after wherever these Black Rocks are taking us, but _you_ are _her_ rock. I think you're the only one who can be." Somewhere along the way Cassandra had pulled her legs to her chest and had wrapped her arms around them in a hug. She only became aware of this when enough of what Eugene had said, and how he had said it, cleared from her mind that she could notice how close the two were.

Cassandra's palm met Eugene's forehead and the rogue was pushed backwards. She needed him further away if she was going to unfurl herself from such a… vulnerable position.

"I hope you're right, Fitzherbert," Cassandra said as she stood up and brushed herself off. "Because she's really going to need to start listening to me the longer we're on this trip."

Eugene ran his hands through his hair, slicking it back until it bounced back into it's perfect coif. It really wasn't fair how cooperative his hair was.

"Yeah. Well. I'm usually right about most things, so… you know." Eugene shrugged and gripped the door handle to the boys' side of the caravan. "Lance is probably sick of driving right about now. I'll go give him a break, it's probably my shift at the reins anyways." He opened the door.

"About what you said…" Cassandra began before Eugene stepped back in. He paused and looked at her expectantly. She couldn't find the words. "Never mind."

Eugene pursed his lips but only nodded his head at her. And then the door was closed and Cassandra was alone. She returned to leaning on the railing.

"This whole trip… I hope you know what you're doing, Raps. We're all trusting you on this. I'm trusting you on this. I just hope you'll trust me when the time comes." She gripped the railing tight in both hands.

For some reason, she felt like she was slipping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we get into the angst. I warned you it was coming. There's still plenty of shipping going on here, that's the whole point of the fic, after all. But there something really unhealthy about the friendship between Rapunzel and Cassandra that I really want to expose. Rapunzel never quite understands the power disparity she holds over Cassandra, and I think a lot of the problems stem from Rapunzel's distinct disrespect for Cassandra's trust.
> 
> I was going to tackle these subjects after they got off the island, but the events of "Freebird" seemed the better segue into the subject.
> 
> Oh, and Happy New Year! Let's hope this next one is better than the last. I wanted to end the year with one last update, a little good at the end of it all. Except it's full of angst. Oops.
> 
> Anyways, kudo, comment, tell your friends, all the good stuff. You know I always love hearing from all of you!


	6. Hoping To Buy Things in the Bakery Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Dearth of Dresses. Good Boots Make Good Soldiers. A Town of Baking. Sweet Smelling Lack of Direction. Come One, Come All! A Familiar Arrogance. But What Does It Do? Opportunity in the Failure or Another. Trusting a Win-Win Situation. Insistent Altruism. Honey Buns and Shoe Shopping at Last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometime between "Vigor the Visionary" and "King Pascal"
> 
> Part 1 of 2

Rapunzel needed a new change of clothes.

Her wardrobe in the caravan had only two dresses, and while it was double the amount of dresses she had when she lived in The Tower, she had _just_ gotten used to having a variety of clothes to choose from. Was it so wrong to want another dress? The girls' side of the caravan certainly had room for it!

In fact, the only other person in their party that had more than one set of clothes was Eugene. He also had a second outfit, and he claimed it was just so if Rapunzel wanted to dress up, he could, too. Everyone knew better, of course, but she indulged his vanity because it was so cute.

"Oh, c'mon Cass! Just one trip into town. A little shopping won't hurt, and we've stopped for supplies anyways!" Rapunzel pleaded with her Lady-in-Waiting just outside the caravan. They had stopped on a hill overlooking either a very small city or a very large town.

"I dunno, Raps. Do we really have time for such a trivial thing?" Cassandra was using a spyglass to check out the town in order to find the clothing style Rapunzel had claimed to have spotted.

"The guys have gone into town for spares anyways, and you _know_ Lance is going to end up getting some new accessory or jewelry. Why should they have all the fun?" Rapunzel used the word 'getting' rather than 'buying' because she knew better than to think the ex-thief was entirely ex about his thieving.

Cassandra turned away from the town and telescoped the spyglass closed with a 'click' that Rapunzel found very satisfying. "I have been meaning to get another pair of boots," she said, tapping her chin. "My dad always said, 'good boots make for a good soldier'."

"Yes!" Rapunzel punched the air in excitement.

"I'll go write a note for if the guys come back before we return," Cassandra said, already climbing into the caravan for some parchment.

Rapunzel gleefully circled the caravan to where Maximus and Fidella were grazing. Pascal was lounging on a nearby stump that had once been swarming with flies and was looking quite full.

"You guys are in charge while we're gone, alright? Make sure nothing happens to the caravan." Maximus stiffened into the closest thing a horse could call 'attention'. Rapunzel could tell that if horses could salute, Maximus would be giving her one. Actually, she wasn't quite sure a Corona horse _couldn't_ salute. She wouldn't put it past them.

"See you when we get back!" She gave a loving kiss on Pascal's head and circled around the caravan. Cassandra was already nailing a note onto the door of the boys' side. "Ready?" She asked.

"All set. Let's go find me some boots." Cassandra actually seemed excited to go shopping! After everything they've been through recently, Rapunzel couldn't think of anything more fun than a shopping date.

On their walk down to the town Rapunzel began reciting the facts about the locale that she remembered from reading the travel guide. “This place is known for its variety of breads, supposedly its many mills run non-stop to make all the flour used in the city’s bakeries.”

“Well that explains why Lance insisted on stopping here,” Cassandra laughed. As much as Rapunzel didn’t want to find humor in other peoples’ faults, she giggled along with Cassandra at Lance’s ever-present appetite.

“Mhmm! Do you smell that, Cassandra? It’s like Atilla’s baker but times a hundred!” The two took big whiffs of the fresh baked goodness.

“Oh, wow. I’ve got to admit, this place smells really nice.” The town’s reputation in the travel guide seemed to have been well earned.

Once the pair entered the town, though, Rapunzel’s travel guide knowledge was no longer any help. What she thought would be an easy walk to the clothing shop turned out to be a maze of freshly baked streets and honey glazed alleys. “The path seemed so much simpler up on the hill,” she said as they stood at a crossing.

“Do you remember what the name of the store was? Maybe we can ask someone for directions.” Cassandra was peering down the streets and Rapunzel hoped she wouldn’t lose interest in their little shopping escapade. If Rapunzel didn’t do something soon, Cassandra might give up and force them back to the caravan!

“I don’t think it had a name, or I didn’t see one at least. But let’s ask someone anyways. I’m sure we can just ask to be pointed towards the nearest clothing store.” Rapunzel made purposeful strides down one of the streets. It sounded like there was a crowd this way. If her memory was correct, and it really hadn’t so far, there _should_ be a square in this direction.

Thankfully her memory paid out this time, and the two women found themselves at the edge of a large crowd gathered around a raised stage. It seemed a woman was trying to sell something to the mass of people. Regardless of what it was, she seemed to have everyone's attention.

“… and that, ladies, and gentlemen, is when I had a stroke of genius!” The woman on the stage declared loudly. “What if a cart could push itself? What if a rope could pull itself? What if you never needed to do any pushing or pulling ever again?!” The woman was walking around the tarp covered object, popping her head out from behind it and shouting excitedly.

“Do you understand anything that she’s saying?” Rapunzel asked Cassandra. The princess tried standing on her tiptoes to see if anything on the stage could illuminate what the woman was talking about. All she saw was a large object covered by a tarp.

“I can’t tell either, c’mon. Let’s push in.” Cassandra elbowed her way into the crowd and Rapunzel followed in her wake. “Sorry, s’cuse me, just gonna squeeze through here,” the Lady-in-Waiting mumbled until they were right up at the stage.

“Hey, I remember her,” Rapunzel said upon getting closer to the stage. She wore a maroon and grey corset over a pink blouse with teal accents. Her thick black hair was held back by a red bandana and even Rapunzel could tell she was wearing too much makeup. “Isn’t she that woman who won the Corona science exposition?”

“I think so…? She was… uh…” but before Cassandra could respond the woman flamboyantly pulled the tarp off the large object revealing… a scale attached to a tube on one end and a wheel on the other? The winner of Corona’s science exposition was waving her hands wildly at the object, adding her own ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ to fill in the unenthused murmuring of the crowd. Whatever she had expected, the crowd wasn’t doing it. Eventually a voice from somewhere in the crowd shouted out the question everyone was thinking.

“So, what is it?” Heads nodded and a wave inquisitive mumbling crested its way to the stage. The machine still had their attention at least.

“It’s my ingenious machine!” Rapunzel wracked her brain for the name of this woman. She had been so caught up in not getting caught in a super tornado that afternoon that remembering the name of the exposition’s winner was the furthest thing from her mind.

The same voice from the crowd, having apparently become the Voice of The People, shouted out a follow-up question to her non-answer. “Yeah, but what does your engine-us machine _do_?” Once again it was joined by mumbled echoes from the fellow spectators.

“It-- it does the pushing and pulling. I just said-- you know what, here, just watch. All I have to do is pour water in here,” the yet-to-be-remembered woman explained while doing so, “and then I light a flame here… Ok this’ll just take a minute. Just gotta let it boil.” She was holding a finger up and watching the tube slowly heat from the flame she’d lit. Apparently, she had never heard about watched pots.

As they waited for the tube to boil Cassandra suddenly smacked a palm to her forehead, giving Rapunzel quite the start. Her best friend leaned into Rapunzel’s ear. “Fernanda Pizazzo,” she whispered, “That’s her name, Fernanda Pizazzo. I remember Varian wouldn’t shut up about Master St. Croix awarding her first prize even though her invention was ‘dumb’.”

“Right! She made that floaty ball thingy,” Rapunzel said, struggling to recall what the floaty ball thingy actually _did_. Was that it? Surely, she couldn’t have won an invention competition if all it did was make a ball float. Even Rapunzel’s invention had done _something_ , even if that ‘something' turned out to be creating a death tornado. She was about to ask Cassandra if Varian had given an explanation when Fernanda exclaimed loudly from the stage.

“BEHOLD!” The water in the tube was boiling now and Rapunzel saw it was attached to the scale. The scale was pushed up on one side when the steam escaped the tube, which made the other side push down on the wheel, only to be pulled back up when more steam got built up in the tube. This made the wheel turn, at first in small bursts but it slowly began to spin at a regular pace.

Fernanda was much more excited at the device than the townspeople, it seemed, who just stared at her. “We already _got_ wheels,” said that same voice from before. By now a decent chunk of the gathered people were losing interest and went to find new things to pay their attention.

“Yes! But this can push your wheels for you!” Fernanda was miming pushing a box with the power of her engine machine dramatically. She seemed to have realized she was losing the interest of the crowd and with it her prospects of a profit.

“Ye, we got donkeys for that,” responded the Voice of The People, somehow sounding even more unenthused than before. More of the crowd was dispersing.

“But _this_ can do it instead!” Fernanda tried to reason to the increasingly shrinking crowd.

“Raps, do you realize what this engine machine can do?” Cassandra asked, an excited smile on her face and eyes wide. Cassandra must have come up with the same idea Rapunzel had!

Rapunzel held her hands in tiny little fists of possibility on either side of her cheeks. “The engine machine can be used to push the wheels in the mills, turning wheat into flour faster, and making the baking of bread even _better_! It could change how bread is made forever. This is the _perfect_ invention for this city!”

This apparently _wasn’t_ what Cassandra had in mind as the excited smile on her face dropped and her eyebrows ruffled together. “Uh, no,” she said. “Raps, I was thinking _we_ could use the engine machine to push the caravan. We wouldn’t need to stop at night for Maximus and Fidella to go to sleep. If we take shifts driving at night, we could travel the same distance in half the time.”

Rapunzel blinked at her friend, considering this idea. “Well, it _would_ help us out, sure. But I don’t think that’s what Fernanda has in mind. The people here could really use the engine machine.” Rapunzel looked back at Fernanda who was still trying to sell her invention to the crowd.

Cassandra placed two fingers on Rapunzel’s chin and spun Rapunzel’s attention back to her. “Hey, Raps, look at me. The people of this town are _not_ interested. But _we_ are. Trust me, we buy it from her, and we’ll have an engine and she’ll have money. It’s a win-win, see?” Cassandra removed her fingers from Rapunzel’s face and pointed at the stage. Everyone seemed to have lost interest, even the Voice of The People are nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t know, Cass. She looks so disappointed.” All alone, Fernanda was sitting at the edge of the stage resting her chin in her hands and looking dejected.

“Well I’m thinking she’ll cheer right up once we buy her engine machine.” Cassandra placed her arm around Rapunzel’s shoulders, guiding them both to where Fernanda was sitting. “Hi there, You’re Fernanda, right? Fernanda Pizazzo?” Cassandra asked.

“Huh? Oh! Oh yes! You’ve heard of me then, Fernanda Pizazzo, inventor extraordinaire!” Cassandra simply recognizing her name was enough to cheer the woman up. Maybe Cassandra was right about simply buying the machine from her.

“Yes, inventor extraordinaire! I heard you won first place at Corona’s science exposition,” Cassandra continued. Rapunzel recognized her tone as being… less than authentic. As crafty as Cassandra was when she needed to be, she wasn’t that great of an actress.

“Why yes! I’m impressed you have heard of that horrible exposition. While I’m proud to have been declared winner by the genius inventor Master St. Croix himself, the entirety of how the exposition was conducted was horrid. It became a complete mess, and all thanks to the ineptitude of the Corona Guard.” There was an abrupt pain in Rapunzel’s shoulder as Cassandra tightened her grip. Looking up at her friend, Rapunzel could tell Cassandra was grinding her teeth.

“Oh, well, how sad,” was all Cassandra seemed to be able to say through a forced smile. Quickly Rapunzel leaped to fill the conversational gap.

“We saw your presentation just now, and we’re really interested in that invention of yours! We were wondering what kind of plans you had for the engine machine.” Rapunzel gave her biggest princess smile in the hopes that it would distract from the sudden tenseness from Cassandra.

Thankfully Fernanda seemed too full of herself to notice. “Oh, I thought these bumpkins would be able to make good use of my machine in their mills or something. Plow their fields or whatever. You know, normally I put a lot more _pizazz_ into my presentation, but I thought if I made things too shiny these yokels might get too scared of my invention.” She gave a short, sharp laugh that oozed condescension.

Rapunzel could tell Cassandra was only getting more annoyed with the woman. She gingerly moved Cassandra’s hand off her shoulder and brought it to rest on the small of Cassandra’s back. Almost immediately the daughter of the Captain of the Guard started to relax and the hand that had just been grasping Rapunzel’s shoulder in rage instead held Rapunzel’s hand behind Cassandra’s back.

“I knew that’s what you meant to do!” Rapunzel said, her smile turning genuine. “See, I told Cass that your machine could do wonders for the bakers in this town. I’m sure they’d understand if you put maybe a _little_ bit more, uh, ‘pizazz’ in your presentation. You should totally try your pitch again. I’ll even help you!”

All the relaxation Cassandra was building collapsed and Rapunzel felt her hand squeezed. “Rapunzel, I don’t think she’s got time for that.”

“Nonsense!” Rapunzel’s offer really lifted Fernanda’s spirits and she leapt off the stage to stand in front of the pair, hands raised in renewed showmanship. “I’ve got plenty of time if it means helping these poor hicks! For a reasonable price, of course.”

“Of course,” Rapunzel parroted.

“I’m going to pack up my engine. Here, I’m staying at this inn,” Fernanda fished a paper out of a pocket and quickly jotted down a name, “Meet me there in an hour and we can discuss how we’ll really show these bumpkins just how amazing my machine is.” She handed Rapunzel the paper and shook the blonde’s hand profusely. “This is going to be great!”

As Fernanda ran around the stage to gather her things and once she was out of earshot Cassandra turned on Rapunzel. “What are you doing?! We were supposed to just buy the engine off of her!”

“Oh, c’mon Cass! She really does want to help the people here. The least we can do is help her help them before we buy the engine machine. That way we help the city, she’ll be able to sell more of her invention, and we’ll still get an engine in the end. That makes it a win-win-win!” Rapunzel gave her best pleading look at the taller woman, the kind that usually made Eugene give in because of ‘just how darn cute she was’ when she did it.

“That wasn’t the _plan_ Rapunzel! I told you to trust me on this.” Cassandra pursed her lips and looked up onto the stage where Fernanda was loudly packing up her presentation, the sound of metal banging on metal only slightly distracting. Then she looked back at Rapunzel and sighed.

“Fine, let’s just see what we can do. But only so we can get an engine of our own, got that?” Rapunzel made two little fists of happiness and bounced on her toes. “Ugh, you know you’re lucky you’re just so darn cute, ya’know?”

There was another loud clanging from the stage and Cassandra rolled her eyes. “C’mon, let’s go grab something to eat while Miss Snooty finishes packing her orchestra. The smell in this town is making me crave honey buns,” she said as she began walking in a particularly sweet-smelling direction.

This was going to be great! Rapunzel already had a whole bunch of ideas on how to sell Fernanda’s engine machine, _and_ they’d be able to help the bakers of the town. Rapunzel scurried after Cassandra in her search for honey buns.

"Oh, and we still need to find boots, too!" Rapunzel called after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My least favorite episode happens between "Vigor the Visionary" and "King Pascal", so I couldn't think of what to write about before they end up on the island. It got so bad I took a break from Tangled writing and wrote some other fanfics. Insert shameless plug here to go read my other fics.
> 
> But then I got some inspiration from my close friend and editor and began working on this chapter. This is the first two-parter than I've written expecting it to be a two-parter from the start, so that's exciting. Here's hoping I pull it off well.
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter, because I'm running on creative fumes. But knowing that there's readers out there who are anxiously awaiting my next chapter has kept me going! So this chapter is for you, you dedicated readers who comment on every chapter. Much love!


	7. Hoping To Sell Things in the Bakery Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back Breaking Work. Helping a Charlatan. Today Was About Boots. The Face of the People Has Boils. Being Called a Donkey. A Rigged Competition. Not Angry, Just Disappointed. Promising Promissory Notes. The Princess Sounds Beautiful and Wise. To Care for or To Care About? That’s Not What They Meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometime between "Vigor the Visionary" and "King Pascal"
> 
> Part 2 of 2

Cassandra never got her change of boots.

The only thing she wanted to do today was buy a new pair of boots. She would even go so far as to call it ‘shoe shopping’ to make Rapunzel happier. But that would have involved them actually taking the time on their little excursion to do what they had _planned_.

And if there was one thing you can plan on Rapunzel doing, it was to _not_ follow the plan.

“Come one, come all!” Rapunzel had a barker’s cone and was shouting to the townspeople from atop the stage from earlier in the day. She was using all of her Princess flair and natural magnetism to create a second crowd of the day. Most of the participants were the same from before. Getting the attention of people who had already seen something interesting fizzle out was a testament to Rapunzel’s natural charm.

She had the easy job, though. Cassandra was also on the stage with Rapunzel, but her job was much more physically grueling. She was pushing the top half of a large millstone in slow, heavy circles atop its lower half. The monotonous work was a good workout for Cassandra’s legs and back, which she’d normally be fine with, but it wasn’t what she wanted to do today.

She just wanted to buy a new pair of boots.

“What’s happening this time?” A voice from within the crowd called out. It was the same voice from earlier in the day whom Cassandra had mentally dubbed the Voice of the People. Now on top of the stage Cassandra could finally put a face to the voice. And now that she knew what the face _was_ , she immediately wished she didn’t. The man bore a particularly large nose that somehow had an even bigger wart on top of it. His mutton chop hairstyle made him look more similar to an orangutan than a lion, and the jowls were definitely not doing him any favors. She decided focusing on the milling was preferable to focusing on the crowd if _that_ was its face.

“This time I’ve come to show you the wonders of milling!” Rapunzel said in a tone Cassandra recognized. It was loud, over dramatic, and attention grabbing, which meant Rapunzel had learned it from Eugene. It wasn’t as annoying when Rapunzel used it, though. Actually, now that she was thinking about it, Cassandra couldn’t remember the last time she had found Eugene’s voice annoying. Huh.

“Lady, you must not know which town you’re in, cause around here we _all_ know about _milling_ ,” the big nosed Voice of the People said to the laughter of everyone else gathered. At least this seemed to keep their interest. If the crowd dispersed so soon all their efforts to set this little display up would have gone to waste. Well, it was mostly _Cassandra’s_ efforts that would be wasted.

“Oh? Really? So, you all know how a millstone works?” Once again Rapunzel’s voice adopting this willfully ignorant tone that was grade A Eugene. “My partner here is pushing the millstone to grind the grain beneath, so it falls into these runner grooves and--” Rapunzel was cut off by the Voice of the People.

“Yeah, lady! We know all about that. Except we’re smart enough to use windmills for that!” Once again, the crowd laughed at Rapunzel’s seeming ignorance.

“Oh my! But what do you do when there is no wind?” Rapunzel had her hand on her hip and head tilted in an airheaded way. She was really overselling the idiot aspect of it all.

“Then we just get a donkey to pull the stone instead, but you must have known that already. There’s an ugly ass already pushing yours!” This drew raucous laughter from the crowd and red into Cassandra’s vision.

“Hey, you come up here and say tha--” Cassandra was about to leap off the stage to tear the massive wart off that man’s face when Rapunzel held her back.

“Cass, wait,” the Princess said. Right, if Cassandra let her anger get the best of her then this whole affair would be wasted and blah blah blah. She took a calming breath and put on an obviously fake smile before going back to the millstone.

Just think of boots.

“Alright, but if someone compares me to a donkey again, I’m not going to hold back,” Cassandra whispered to Rapunzel. “Where is that blasted woman anyways? Just say her cue so she gets out here already.” This was in a much harsher whisper.

“Oh? But a donkey must be oh so unreliable! You have to house and feed a donkey, which must be so time consuming and costly.” Rapunzel shouted out, still sounding like an idiot. “There’s _got_ to be a better way!”

Finally, Fernanda Pizazzo made her overly flashy entrance. “Did somebody ask for a better way?!” There was a puff of smoke on the stage that did nothing to obscure Fernanda climbing onto the stage from the small stairs in the back. Once again, she added her own ‘oos’ and ‘ahhs’ to her entrance, throwing in a ‘where did she come from?’ for good measure.

“I have just what you’re looking for, my dear lady! A device that will toss everything you thought you knew about milling out the window!” Fernanda was excitedly jumping around the large object covered with a tarp that Cassandra had painstakingly brought onto the stage along with the equally large and heavy millstone she now toiled behind.

“Behold, my Ingenious Machine 5000!” Fernanda pulled the tarp off to reveal a machine that looked quite similar to the machine she had debuted earlier that day. It still looked like a scale with a tube on one end and a wheel on the other, but now the wheel was a gear. This gear was locked horizontally perpendicular with another gear which in turn was locked in with another and another. Finally, it was connected to a millstone.

“Five thousand?” Cassandra whispered to Rapunzel, who only shrugged. Their part was mostly done.

“You all saw the Ingenious Machine Classic this morning, but now, after working nonstop for the past hour and a half to make four thousand nine hundred ninety-nine changes to the Ingenious Machine and present to you it’s ultimate form!” By this point Cassandra was no longer milling, instead leaning on the horizontal bar she had been using to push the stone.

“Four thousand… nonstop… she just attached it to the millstone, and we did most of the work!” Cassandra tossed in a massive eye roll with this whisper. She was supposed to as part of their act, but it couldn’t be any more genuine.

"You there, young lady, what do you think you're smiling about?" Fernanda was flamboyantly pointing at Cassandra. Right, this was supposed to be here cue.

"Me? Oh no, I'm just thinking what everyone here is thinking. Your machine isn't gonna mill grain better than a person can." Cassandra flexed her arm and slapped her bicep with her other hand, showing herself off to the crowd. To their credit, their little pantomime seemed to have the attention of the crowd.

“In that case I challenge you to a competition! My glorious, wonderful, ingenious machine against your, ugh, sweat?” Cassandra could feel the frown lines growing more and more permanent on her forehead as the woman kept on. Sure, this was all part of the plan, but it didn’t make Fernanda’s smarmy attitude any more bearable.

"Of course! I bet your bucket of bolts couldn't mill this sack of grain!" Cassandra shouted. Rapunzel handed Cassandra one of the sacks of grain they had bought and tossed it across the stage to Fernanda. It bothered Cassandra to toss the bag, but only because it felt like literally tossing their money away. Specifically, the money they were supposed to buy her new boots.

"I shall gladly take that bet!" Fernanda declared loudly while twirling on one leg back to her machine. She really was going all out. It almost made Cassandra want to actually win this bet, just to shove it in her smug face.

But that wasn't the plan. The new plan. The old plan was long thrown out the window and once again Cassandra was following Rapunzel's lead regardless of where it may lead. But it would all be worth it when they got one of these engine machines for the caravan, so Cassandra steeled herself for the 'humiliating defeat' she was supposed to suffer.

Rapunzel and Fernanda filled the hoppers of each millstone with their respective bags of grain. The secret was that Cassandra's millstone had been set up incorrectly, making it significantly less efficient regardless of how hard Cassandra pushed.

Cassandra had initially expressed concern that the crowd of experienced millers would notice the flaw in their designs, but once again Rapunzel’s encyclopedic knowledge of the travel guide came in handy. And not just the travel guide. Rapunzel must have read through the entire castle library at some point because she seemed well versed in how a mill worked. At least it seemed to be useful for this.

And so, the competition began. Cassandra took an early lead as Fernanda let the water heat up in her engine machine, but soon the device was whistling with compressed steam. It wasn’t fast, but the audience could clearly see the milled grain flowing freely from Fernanda’s millstone. Meanwhile Cassandra’s rigged mill was only producing a few rivulets of grain each rotation.

“There you go, Cass, you can do it!” Rapunzel cheered from the side.

“Come on, everyone! Who do you think is going to be the winner of our little bet? Look at how tired and meek my opponent is! She’s barely holding on as it is and behold! My ingenious machine works without a care.” Fernanda was a natural show woman, Cassandra had to hand her that. And a few weeks ago, Cassandra had been barking to a crowd in Varderos much the same way. But none of that diminished the insults being so casually tossed her way.

“Don’t worry, she’s just playing her part,” Rapunzel whispered as she walked alongside Cassandra.

“Easy for you to say, you’re not the one getting insulted.” She moved a hand to wipe the sweat from her brow, but Rapunzel beat her to it with a small handkerchief. A bit of Cassandra’s bitterness was wiped away as Rapunzel smiled at her and dabbed her forehead.

What was it about her smile?

“Oh?! What is this? Does your donkey need a rest? Ladies and Gentlemen, the Ingenious Machine 5000 does not need any rest! It does not need food; it only needs a bit of water and heat and it will work all night long!” Fernanda illustrated her point by pouring from a clay pitcher of water into the canister on the side of her machine. She then poured a cup of water, extending it to Cassandra. But of course, when Cassandra reached out to take the cup from her, Fernanda pulled it away and drank of it herself.

Why had she agreed to this? It was humiliating! She was repeatedly made to look like the butt of the joke here. And not just the butt, an ass! Fernanda had _just_ called her a donkey again! Cassandra looked up at Rapunzel, asking with her eyes if this had gone on for long enough.

“Ready to admit defeat then, hmm?” Fernanda said, pouring another cup of water and this time extending it to Rapunzel. To Cassandra’s annoyance Fernanda didn’t pull it away when Rapunzel took it. To Cassandra’s anger, Rapunzel _drank_ from the cup rather than give it to Cassandra!

“No way, my miller can go all day if she has to!” Rapunzel held the cup out like she was toasting the audience. “Aren’t I right folks? You don’t think a machine like this can beat real effort, right!?”

Cassandra slapped a hand to her forehead, stopping her pushing to stand up straight. “Ok, no, I think--”

“Heck yeah! That dumb machine of hers can’t beat hard work!” It was the Voice of the People. Soon he was accompanied by cheers of agreement from the crowd, all of them encouraging Cassandra to keep pushing.

“No, no, I really think--” Cassandra started again.

“Alright folks! She’s going to take on my machine with all her might! And if she can out-mill the Ingenious Machine 5000 I’ll admit defeat and proudly declare your fair town as the _best_ millers in the entire world! But if she can’t, and I bet you all she can’t, I’ll be selling these beauties for a ‘fair’ price after the show!” Cassandra must have been spending too much time around Eugene because she could hear the air quotes around the word ‘fair’.

“C’mon, lassie! Give your ass a nice, hard spank! Get her moving!” came a voice from within the crowd. Cassandra’s eyes went wide with a surprised anger and she looked out into the crowd to determine who had said it, but quickly turned her attention to Rapunzel instead.

“Don’t you dare,” she hissed. The Princess looked bashful and smiled awkwardly. Had her hand been raised!?

“What, your donkey not cooperating?” shouted another voice.

“No machine’s better than having a dumb animal working for ya!” shouted yet another.

Soon the crowd was filled with the grumbling and jeers for Rapunzel to work her ‘beast of burden’ harder, something Cassandra _definitely_ did not have the stomach to hear.

“NOPE!” She yelled, standing up and ceasing her milling. “I’m done. You win.” Cassandra clapped her hands in front of her and then threw them up in frustration before turning to leave the stage.

“Cass wait--” Rapunzel began, but Cassandra was already stomping loudly down the stage’s stairs. Behind her Fernanda was making declarations of victory with all the overdramatic hamminess that Cassandra despised in the woman. She was already a fair way down the street before Rapunzel caught up with, skidding to a stop in front of her Lady-in-Waiting to block her path.

“Whoa, hey Cass. We only got halfway through our show.” Cassandra begrudgingly stopped and crossed her arms, pointedly refusing to look Rapunzel in the eyes.

“Well _I_ was done with your show. Did you hear what those people were saying about me? They were calling me an animal, Raps. An _animal_. And you did nothing to stop them!”

To Rapunzel’s credit, she did appear to be ashamed of herself. “I know… I’m sorry. It was just all part of the show and if it meant helping Fernanda sell her machine and… I’m sorry. It was wrong of me not to speak up for you.” Now it was Rapunzel who had her arms crossed, but it was in regret, not anger. Cassandra sighed and uncrossed hers.

“Look, Raps, you promised me today would be _relaxing_. We were going to walk through a city of delicious smells and buy you some clothes. I was actually looking forward to ‘shoe shopping’ with you.” Cassandra made air quotes with her fingers around the words ‘shoe shopping’ to emphasize that was Rapunzel’s term, not hers. “Helping anyone other than ourselves today _wasn’t_ part of the plan.”

“Well I can’t just ignore--”

“Yes, you can, Raps. You’re not a Princess out here. No one is looking to you to set an example or be proper. Out here, so long as you keep a low profile, it’s okay to focus on _yourself_.” Cassandra wasn’t angry anymore. Not like she was back on stage. Now she was just… frustrated? “At least, I was hoping today you’d focus just on me.”

It was stupid to feel jealous over, what? Fernanda Pizazzo? Her engine machine? This town’s stupid inability to see the practical applications of a way machinery and steam could fundamentally improve their quality of life?

Whoa, that last thought was probably a side effect of time spent with Varian.

Rapunzel mumbled something Cassandra didn’t hear. “What did you say, Raps? I couldn’t hear you.” She resisted the urge to reprimand her for her mumbling, a trait Cassandra inwardly hated in Rapunzel.

“I said you were the one who taught me to… be a Princess.”

Cassandra sighed. Okay, now she wasn’t frustrated either. It was… something else. “I’m sorry Raps. You’re right. You’re right, all that stuff about how to act in the castle, how to interact with everyone, it was important then. But that was then, and this is now. That was _there_ and this is… somewhere else. And I just want to make sure you can get from here to somewhere now so I can take you back from there to the there from then.”

Rapunzel blinked.

“Trust me, that tracks.”

Rapunzel smiled at Cassandra. A sheepish, impish smile that meant she knew she had done wrong and was sorry and wanted to make it up to her and… ugh! What was it about this girl? Cassandra had been what, ground down by Rapunzel’s enthusiasm over their time together? Was she the stone that milled the grain that was Cassandra? Cassandra had always thought she would be the stone. A whetstone to sharpen Rapunzel from the soft and naive child she was. But here she was, grinding away at Cassandra’s hardened personality.

“It’s fine, Raps. We’re fine. I just… today wasn’t what you promised. You always say you never, ever break promises. I expected today to just be _us_ together. Having fun.” Disappointed. That was what Cassandra was feeling. She wasn’t angry or frustrated anymore. Just… disappointed.

“And we can still do that! We made a little detour, but we can be right back on track for our shopping date.” Rapunzel held her arm out to Cassandra. “What do you say? Let’s go get our engine machine from Fernanda and then we go find the town’s finest cobbler?” With a halfcocked grin, Cassandra took Rapunzel’s arm into hers and the two walked back to the crowd.

It seemed that in the time of their argument those who had interests in Fernanda’s machine had made their deals. Internally Cassandra was happy to not find the Voice of the People still around, or really any of the crowd that had referred to her in any animalistic way. Instead Fernanda was sitting on the stage counting what looked like promissory notes.

“Oh, my two wonderful actors! You. Were. Fantastic!” Fernanda hopped off the stage, her arms wide and pulling the two into a hug. Cassandra had grown to be ok with more physical forms of affection, but that was strictly restricted to Rapunzel and Eugene.

Wait. Restricted to Rapunzel. Just Rapunzel.

“Ah, yeah, yeah, great jobs all around,” Cassandra said as she extricated herself from the overly theatrical woman’s embrace. “Deal’s a deal, though. We did our bit; now give us our engine machine and we’ll be on our way.” Cassandra pointed at the machine still on stage, slowly billowing steam.

“Oh, that one? No, that one’s already been bought. The miller and his men are coming around later tonight and we’re going to configure it to work in his mill.” Fernanda held up one of the promissory notes with two signatures on them, one very big and flourishing and whose owner was quite obvious.

“Well that’s okay!” Rapunzel interjected before Cassandra could speak her mind. “You’ll just have to build a different one for us, right?”

“Ooh, see, that next one is going to a different miller. Uh, let’s see, yes this one!” Fernanda leafed through her stack of promissory notes and held up a different one, also sporting the same big, irritating signature.

“That’s fine then. No need to worry,” Rapunzel seemed to say this more to Cassandra than to Fernanda. “I’m going to guess that there’s an engine machine for each of those papers, isn’t there?”

Fernanda waved the dozen or so sheets and winked at Rapunzel.

“Alright, listen, you.” Cassandra pushed Rapunzel aside with one arm and held a very accusatory finger at Fernanda. “Our _deal_ was we help you sell these things and _you_ give us one in exchange. So, we’re taking _that_ one.”

“Cass, there’s no need to shout--”

“I’m _not_ shouting, Raps! I’m just speaking. Very. Specifically.” Cassandra enunciated every punctuation.

“Look, I don’t know what to tell you. When you two went off the people _clamored_ for one of my babies. I had to sign these promissory notes to make sure there wouldn’t be a riot! What would the adoring public think if I just ignored these deals to give one to my _rivals_?” Fernanda emphasized the last word with mock scorn.

“ _Thatwasjustanact_!” Cassandra said in a single breath, already on her toes. Rapunzel had to place both hands on Cassandra’s shoulders to keep her from lunging.

“Hey, let’s not make another scene. We can work things out. We’ll just take one after all of those are done. We can spend an extra night in town to wait for it, right Cass?” Cassandra returned to her heels.

“Another _night_? Honey, each one of these is gonna take me at least a _week_ to build, and probably another to set each one up for each mill.” Cassandra felt two surprisingly strong arms wrap themselves around her waist from behind. Were it not for these arms holding her still, Cassandra would be tearing the infuriating woman limb from obnoxious limb.

“We don’t have _weeks_!” _Now_ Cassandra was shouting. She’d have to content herself with just that if Rapunzel was so intent on preventing her from violence.

“Well I’m _sorry_ , but there’s nothing I can do. When these buyers come around with their half of the promissory notes, I’ve got to honor them or else what kind of world would we live in? These notes are written promises!”

“Promises, Cass! They’re written promises.” Cassandra physically relaxed, although mentally she was still thoroughly stressed. Rapunzel removed her arms from Cassandra’s waist and moved in front of her Lady-in-Waiting. “You were just saying how important promises are. We’ll just sign our own promissory note and pick one up on the ride home. It’ll make the trip back much easier?”

Cassandra took a deep breath, sighed, took another deep breath, then turned on her heel. “Fine, fine. Sign a blasted paper already.” Cassandra didn’t want to _look_ at Fernanda anymore, lest she succumb to the urge to sock her one. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot in impatience.

“Hey, that’s the spirit! And you know what? Just cause you’ve two have had such a great attitude about all this, here. I’ll throw in a bit of money for your efforts.” Cassandra raised an eyebrow and allowed herself to just barely turn her head to look over her shoulder.

“A~nd there. All signed and set.” Rapunzel handed Cassandra a small money bag that had a satisfying weight to it. But it still didn’t make up for not getting an engine machine. Not even close.

“Fantastic! Well, thank you two ladies, it’s been such a pleasure doing business with you. Hey, Rapunzel… fancy name. I think I remember some princess was named that. It was somewhere west of here, Corona, I think?” Cassandra could hear Rapunzel laugh in that fake way people laugh when they want to change the topic quickly.

“Yep! Fancy name, my parents wanted me to be all kinds of fancy. Never knew the princess, although she sounds really beautiful and wise. Well, it was nice working with you, too. Buh-bye~!” Cassandra felt two hands on her back pushing her forward.

“Smooth, Raps. Real smooth.” Rapunzel stopped pushing and moved back to Cassandra’s side to link arms once again.

“Yeah, yeah. But that’s all done now!” Rapunzel held Cassandra’s arm tight and rested her cheek against the taller woman’s shoulder. It was nice. A nice feeling of walking arm in arm with someone you cared about and cared about you.

Although after all of the things today, Cassandra was wary of Rapunzel’s care. There was a big difference between caring _about_ someone and caring _for_ someone. Cassandra definitely cared _for_ Rapunzel; it was part of her job description. And since they’d met Rapunzel had somehow made Cassandra care _about_ her, too.

Cassandra knew that Rapunzel would answer yes in less than a heartbeat if she were asked if she cared _about_ her Lady-in-Waiting. In fact, Rapunzel usually didn’t need someone to ask before she announced to the world how much she cared about Cassandra. But the way she had been treated today, the past few weeks of their adventure, the whole wacko bird fiasco. Cassandra had to reconsider if Rapunzel cared _for_ her.

“Cass? Hello~?” Cassandra snapped out of her thoughts as Rapunzel waved her hand in her face.

“Huh? I’m sorry, Raps. I was lost in thought. What were you saying?”

“I _said_ , now that we’ve got a little extra money, I’m going to take you out to a delicious dinner after we shop, just the two of us. I really want to make up for not defending you earlier.” There was a determined look in Rapunzel’s eyes that seemed so out of place Cassandra had to suppress a chuckle.

“Sounds good to me.” Cassandra readjusted the link of their arms and let Rapunzel lead the way.

“And for the record, you do _not_ have an ugly ass.”

“Uh, Raps, that’s… not what they meant.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK! I've got my mojo back. Wanna know how? I reread my own fic from start to here. I can really see my writing evolve and where it devolved and stopped being the quality I wanted it to be. I also binge watched the series again (my roommate had never seen it! And now that she has, I will not shuttup about it, bwahaha) and reread some of my favorite Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. SO I used all that and rewrote this entire chapter. Hah. Yeah. But I think it was worth it. Probably.
> 
> Another major factor to getting over my funk was the amount of Persona fanfiction I wrote. Switching topics and characters helped me loosen up my mind. I think it was Ben Affleck who said "If you play one role for too long, your other acting muscles begin to weaken" or something to that meaning. Basically, writing only my favorites was like only doing my arms and totally ignoring leg day. Gotta stay fit, both physically _and_ creatively!
> 
> Anyways, as usual, I would LOVE to know what you think, how this chapter made you feel, any criticisms you have, all of it. Oh, any grammar or spelling mistakes. Point those out to me, too. (Oh, and if you would also like to read my Persona fics and comment on those, too…)
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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